The Last Door on the Left
by demonprincess7
Summary: An enemy from Angel and Spike's past comes back to haunt them. The Immortal having kidnapped Buffy, has decided to tip the boys off to her disappearance. What will become of the slayer now the Immortal has gotten his questionably evil hands on her? Revision of Angel S5: E20. Written for a prompt by Soulfireflame.
1. Are We There Yet?

Angel was sitting in his office in Wolfram & Hart reading over a rather boring file on the LA Sadecki Demons. They had a meeting on Wednesday that he needed to prepare for. His team would have to be all vampire lawyers, since Sadecki demons are telepathic and it's hard for a lawyer to deal with someone who's reading their mind. Angel set the file down and gazed out the window into the bright sunlight. He didn't think he'd ever get used to the feel of warmth or the sight of the sunrise. All those centuries of hiding in the shadows, it was almost as if he'd forgotten how pleasant it could be.

There was light knock at the door and Angel yelled for Harmony to come in. "Morning, boss," She said as she entered. "I have your blood for you," She set the mug on his desk. "You have a 1 O'clock with the vampire clan that has been stealing children and 4 O'clock with a Codger demon asking for our protection from a Hellbeast." She was about to walk out the door when she remembered something. "Also there's a package for you from Italy, should I bring it in or do you want the Magic and Curses department to look it over first?"

"Just bring it in here. I'll open it myself," Angel said sounding a bit uninterested.

"You got it, boss." She left and came back a moment later carrying a small rectangular package. She set it on the desk in front of him and left. As she was walking out of the door, Spike pushed passed her and entered the office. Harmony rolled her eyes and shut the door behind her.

"I'm bored. Got any demons that need killing?" Spike asked as he strode over to Angel's desk and sat down on the edge. "Ooh, what's that? It's got my name on it," Spike said reaching for the package.

Angel snatched it first. "It does not." He looked at the label. "Oh." Spike raised an eyebrow.

"So you gonna open that thing or what? Since it's addressed to both of us, I vote open it. It's got to be more interesting than babysitting Illyra while she mopes about being defeated and limited and all that rot."

Angel rolled his eyes and sliced the box open with his letter opener. He opened it up and looked inside. It was a VHS tape. Unlabeled and unwrapped, but looked like it had come from a video camera.

While Angel wasn't looking, Spike had snatched his mug and gulped down half of the blood. He spoke around a mouthful, "A video tape? How ominous," He scoffed.

Angel ignored him and grabbed the tape, heading for his personal elevator. Spike followed his and they went up to Angel's apartment. He put the tape in the player and turned on the TV. They sat down and watched.

The screen was black, but in the corner, the time stamp was dated one week earlier shortly after 2 am. Someone pulled the lens cap off of the camera, and the boys could see Buffy. She was tied tightly down to a very large and very ornate bed. Her body was covered in bruises, making it clear that she'd put up quite a fight before finding herself in this situation. Someone had made her up to look like an 18th century whore. Her hair was done in a messy bun and she wore a headpiece of pearl beads. Her face was covered in a white powder and a bright purple eye shadow; her cheeks were a brilliant red.

A familiar being walked on-screen and smiled at the camera. The Immortal. A shared enemy of both Spike and Angel. His favorite game was to steal their woman away whenever they visit Italy. Buffy must have caught his attention when she moved there. She must have told him no. He must have noticed both Angel and Spike's claim marks on her.

"No!" Spike shouted and jumped to his feet. A growl tore from Angel's throat. They both watched with wide eyes as she was raped and slowly tortured. Her screams would haunt their nightmares. The tape ended and Angel stood slowly. They were both in game face, and Angel wore a vicious look that Spike hadn't seen since Angelus. Spike's face mirrored Angel's.

* * *

"Harmony, tell them to get the jet ready. I'm taking a trip to Italy," Angel told his assistant over the phone.

"_We_ are taking a trip. I'm going to," Spike said.

"No you're not," Angel said firmly as he packed a few favored weapons. He pulled on his leather jacket.

"Yes I am. Buffy is in trouble and we don't even know if she'll be alive when we get there-"

"Of course she will be. We'll make it before he kills her." Angel like he was trying to convince himself more than Spike.

"Right." The phone rang and Spike picked it up. He listened for a minute before hanging up. "That was Harmony. The jets ready, we should get going." The elevator seemed to be moving especially slow today, and Spike ground his teeth in anticipation.

"Come on!" Angel yelled. "Stupid contraption." Spike nodded his agreement. Any number of things could happen to Buffy before they got there. Things worse than they'd already seen. They tried not to think about how they were a week late in saving her and how there was no way they would find her in once piece. They reached the ground floor and ran to the back of the building to the hangars. Once on the jet, they both tried to relax a little, but with Buffy in clutches of the Immortal, it was impossible.

The jet took off. Angel busied himself looking through his big bag of weapons. Spike thought it looked more like he was developing a plan to use each one of them more than taking inventory. Spike started drinking, and once he started, he couldn't stop. There wasn't exactly an endless supply of alcohol on the plane and he soon finished off the last bottle much to his displeasure.

"Remember last time we were in Italy?" Angel said.

"Like it was yesterday," Spike said. "That nightclub in the 50's, now that was fun."

"Wait, I wasn't in Italy in the 50's."

"Oh, right. Guess you weren't. Really missed out."

"Guess so. Sounds a lot better than when I remember it."

"1894?"

"The Room of Pain."

"That bleedin' bastard," Spike growled.

"Save it for when we get to Italy."

"How much longer, til we get there?"

"Few hours."

Spike sighed. A few minutes later he asked, "How much longer?"

"About five minutes less than the last time you asked."

"Oh." He fidgeted a bit and then asked again. "How much-"

"William! Enough," Angel said agitated. "We'll get there when we get there, alright?"

"Fine." He sighed again. He shifted in his seat and tried to get comfortable. He kept thinking about Buffy and how every second on this bleedin' machine she could be far worse than he and Angelus did when they were in Italy all those years ago. He shifted and squirmed a bit more. Growling quietly, he finally found a place that was better than all the others, but it still wasn't perfect. He sighed again.

"What, Spike? I'm just trying to relax until we get to Italy. Why is that so hard?"

"I'm so bored, and agitated and impatient. I mean who the hell is flying this thing, Wesley's grandfather?"

"No. Pretty sure he's dead."

"Well if he were he'd sure as hell be flyin' faster," Spike said certainly.

"He's not flying the plane, Spike."

"Who's flying the plane then?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know who's flying your own plane? That's bad plane ownership, mate."

Angel rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Spike."

* * *

After several hours, the jet finally landed at the Italy branch of Wolfram and Hart. The boys ran off the plane and through the building, but they were stopped, by the CEO Ilona.

"Ciao! Benvenuti! Welcome!" She said as she approached them. "Ah, Spike." She kissed him on both cheeks.

"Ha ha ha. Oh! You are the very meaning of handsome. You take my breath away. Ah, I have no breath," She laughed.

She kissed Angel on both cheeks. "And you, what an honor. The great Angelus."

"Actually, it's just Angel."

"Ah, yes, of course. The gypsies, they gave you your soul. The gypsies are filthy people!" She spat on the ground "And we shall speak of them no more. I am Ilona Costa Bianchi. I'm the CEO of the Roman offices of Wolfram e Hart. And please, we are at your disposal. Whatever it is that you want, we give to you. If you want the world, we give you the world. We give you two worlds, in fact, because this is our way."

"Thanks, love, but right now we just want to do what we came here for."

"Yeah we really need to get going, come on Spike," Angel said before running off with Spike behind him. Ilona watched them go looking surprised by their odd behavior.

They had no idea where to look for the Immortal, but he couldn't be that hard to find. They immediately started the hunt for the familiar scent of their most hated enemy. One took one side of the street, and the other took to the roofs on the other side. They alternated ground and roof every block or so until one of them found a familiar scent. The familiar scent of slayer was faint, but Spike could sense it none the less.

"Angel!" He called down to the street. "She was here." He looked around for any sign of where she might have went from there, but there was no visible sign that she had even been there.

Angel climbed up the building to meet Spike and they followed the trail. Her scent lead them into a more residential area. They found themselves standing outside of an Old Italian style apartment building.

"Great. We can't get inside. Now what?" Spike said irritated.

"We'll just have to keep looking. This isn't the sort of place where the immortal would live. This is more likely Buffy and Dawn's place," Angel said.

They both sighed, leaning up against the building. "You ever think… maybe this is a set up? What if she's not in any danger at all?" Spike said. "For all we know she's up those stairs tucked safely in her bed."

"No, if she were up there, I would feel here," Angel said.

"Bugger that, Angel. We both know it's a load of crap, you bein' able to feel her. Though if her scent is any indication, she hasn't been out here in a while."

"What about the tape? That's proof enough."

"Could have been edited, to look like Buffy. With magic or something."

They both sighed again. "Well standing here isn't saving Buffy. We need to keep searching," Angel said.

Spike took a step away from the building. "Wait a second. Did you hear that?"

"Hear what? It's dead out here."

"I thought I heard… I did. I heard Buffy. You can't hear her?"

"You're delusional, Spike."

"No, I mean it. I can hear her. Well it sounds like her, but it doesn't sound like the sort of thing she'd say…"

"You're serious?" Angel asked. He looked at Spike's face. He was dead serious. "What is she saying?"

"She… She called me her 'white knight'. Like Drusilla… Drusilla used to… No!" Spike took off running up the street. Angel shadowed him closely.

"Spike! Where are you going?"

"To find, Buffy. I know where she is." They kept running until they reached a large ornate mansion. The gates were wide open as though the owner were expecting company. He was. They ran through the gates and up the drive, right up to the door. It was unlocked and Spike barged his way in. They boys stopped in the foyer. Angel pulled an ax out his bag and tossed Spike a stake. He left the bag on the floor.

There was a servant waiting for them in the entrance to one of the halls. Spike grabbed him by the collar. "Where is she?" He shouted to the frightened young vampire. He pointed them down the hall and took off running again. They caught her scent and followed it down all the way to the end and into the last room on the left. Angel kicked the down open the they stormed inside.

Buffy was sitting in front of a mirror less vanity. She was holding something on her lap and they could hear her humming softly to it. She turned to face them and smiled softly. The tiny girl stood so they could see her. She held a small porcelain doll in her arms and she was wearing a pure white dress that appeared to be exactly like Drusilla's. They pair wouldn't doubt if it had been stolen from her. Her make-up had been redone with a simple black eye-shadow. She looked like a blonde Drusilla. Small, pale, and even more noticeably, a newly turned vampire.

"Buffy?" Angel asked.

She smiled. "The dark prince and the white knight came riding in on the whirlwind. They came to save their sunshine." She said softly.

"Oh god no." Spike said. "Please, Buffy no."


	2. Bird Song

Angel and Spike stared in amazement as the newly sired Buffy grabbed a hair brush off of the vanity and brushed the dolls hair. She hummed a tune and cared for her doll as though it were a child.

"He turned her," Angel said in shock.

"Yeah," Spike said. "Look at her, she's…"

"Just like Drusilla. He- he tormented her until she went insane," Angel growled. He could feel Angelus on the forefront of his mind. Buffy was Angel's to turn or to kill.

"She was mine. I claimed her! No one respects a claim anymore," Spike said equal parts angry and annoyed.

"I claimed her first, but it doesn't matter now anyway. She's been turned. We need to find the Immortal. He will pay for this." Angel turned and stalked out of the room. He headed back down the hall and found the servant still standing in the foyer, looking a bit shaken. "Where is he?" Angel growled at the small man.

"The-the Immortal sends his regards-"

"Save it. Just tell me where he is and I won't kill you." He slowly backed the frightened man into the wall.

"I-I I'm certain th-that I don't know."

"Then guess." He pressed his left hand over the man's throat.

"P-please, don't. I-I he… he went out. Took his nicest car and he left. I don't know where to I swear. I was only supposed to wait for you to arrive and tell you where the girl was. Please, don't kill me."

* * *

Angel left the room and Spike remained with Buffy. "Oh, pet," He sighed. "What has he done to you?" Buffy looked at him. Her eyes shined in a familiar way, the way that Drusilla's always did. It was as if she was in a dream but she didn't quite know _where _she was. She recognized Spike and Angel and she knew that she needed help. She knew that something was wrong here, but she didn't know what. She just wanted her boys to take her away, and take care of her.

Buffy smiled at Spike. "You followed the bird song. Did you come to free the canary?"

Spike, having spent a century with his insane sire, was a master in insane speak. He could understand her as well as he had Drusilla. He smirked as he thought, Angel could never quite figure out what she saying. It was really the advantage he had here. He wanted to kick himself. Buffy has been tortured and turned and he's still concerned with which of them she loves more.

"Yes, love. We came to save you."

"Will you take me home? The games the wolf plays," she shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder if he likes the bird he's caught."

"What do you mean pet?"

"He bites, then he coddles, but which face does the creature truly bare?"

"He cared for you?"

She nodded. "I'm his china doll."

"Not anymore. We're gonna take you home. I'll take care of you now." Buffy smiled. Spike sat in the chair by the vanity. "Come here pet. We'll just wait for Angel, then." Buffy sat on his lap and babbled about all sorts of things. She told him about feeding on a child the Immortal had given her and how much she liked her pretty white dress. Spike was fascinated. She was so much like Drusilla. All of the crazy in her head seemed to block out all the trauma. Maybe that was the point of it, her brain trying to drown the pain with chaos. He reached up to pull her hair out of the messy bun, but Buffy batted his hand away. She glared at him.

"At least let me fix it, pet. It's falling out."

"No! You can't!" She jumped off his lap and ran to the corner of the room. "Leave me alone!"

"Hush, love it's alright," Spike tried to reassure her. He seemed to have triggered something in her memory. Something she was afraid of. "Alright, I won't touch it. You can have it just how you like."

Buffy was wary and watched both of his hands, raised slightly in a calming gesture, as she walked back toward where Spike sat. "It's alright, Buffy. You're safe I promise."

Angel walked back into the room looking positively fierce. "He's gone. The bastard ran off! As soon as he knew were on our way he fled." Angel growled.

Buffy flinched. "Angel calm down, we'll find him later," Spike said.

"Calm down? You can't be serious!"

"I am serious and you're upsetting Buffy," He nodded in her direction. "We need to get her home. She'll feel safer the farther she is from here."

Angel sighed and tried to calm himself a bit. "You're right."

Spike tried not to look shocked at his admission. "Right we're off then, love." He stood and took Buffy's hand.

"Hungry," Buffy whined.

"There's pig's blood on the plane," Angel said.

"No!" she shouted. She pulled her hand away from Spike's and stomped her foot. She made a disgusted face. "Awful. Animals taste awful."

"Buffy you can't kill people. You have to learn to drink pigs blood, like us," Angel tried to explain, but Buffy wouldn't hear it. She glared and shook her head.

Spike and Angel shared a look. They couldn't let her starve herself and they couldn't just let her kill could they? Angel thought a moment while Buffy pouted. He decided, yes. They could. "Come on. I have someone for you," Angel said. Spike's eyes grew wide, but he didn't protest. They'd have to talk about it while she wasn't listening.

Angel took Buffy's hand and led her down the hall. He had left the servant on his knees trying to catch his breath. He was still there when they reached the foyer. Angel released Buffy's hand and walked up the man. He wrapped an arm around his chest to hold him still and pulled his head to the side, offering him to the young vampire. She smiled and bit into the proffered throat.

The trio left the mansion much in the fashion of the old days. The days without souls or responsibilities. They walked arm in arm out the front doors and down the street. The servant lay dead on the cold marble floor.

Buffy was pleased with her new family. She knew they would take care of her and she would be as safe from the Immortal as a vampire could be. Angel felt guilty for letting her kill the man, but he felt that everything that had happened to Buffy was his fault. The Immortal did all of this to her to torment him. That made him responsible for her. As soon as they got back to LA, he's find a way to give her a soul. Until he could do that, he would either have to convince her to drink pig's blood, or (if his soul would allow it) the blood of evildoers. Perhaps he could convince himself that by killing bad people, she would be saving innocent lives.

Spike felt bad for the servant, but he didn't let it get to him. Soul or not, Buffy needed someone to look after her. He felt guilty for what had happened to her. A part of him wanted to put all of the blame on Angel and it would be easy to. Angel was known throughout the world as the vampire that had fallen in love with the slayer, it seemed possible that the Immortal didn't know that Spike was involved with her. Of course his name of on the package, but either way, Spike knew he was just as much to blame as Angel. Which wasn't very much at all in fact. It wasn't like Spike had been the one to tie her up or to hurt her. Neither of them had provoked the Immortal. Neither of them knew exactly why any of this had happened at all. The problem was that it did happen and they all had to live with that, or unlive as it were. He would spend the rest of eternity taking care of Buffy and hoping that one day, she might get better. Maybe one day, she'd feel safe. She would never forget what happened, but maybe she could put it behind her and just be Buffy again.

As they headed down the drive, a familiar form stepped out of the shadows. They hadn't seen the vampire many times, but they never forgot his face. The Immortal stood before them.

Angel and Spike's faces immediately took their true form and both growled. Angel pushed Buffy back behind them.

"I see you found the gift that I left you," He smirked. "I don't like getting my hands dirty, but I thought, just this once. We are old friends after all, are we not?"

"You stole our women and humiliated us. That doesn't really put you at the top of our list of friends, does it Spike?" Angel said.

"I like to think of us more as archenemies," Spike said.

"Well in that case it's a good thing I brought this." The Immortal pulled a stake from his coat pocket. "I've decided I'd like to keep my new childe. You were on to something driving that girl of yours insane, Angelus. The craziest women are awfully good in bed," He smirked.

Angel growled and Spike pounced on the Immortal. The struggled for a moment before the Immortal ended up on top, stake poised for the kill. Angel threw him across the lawn with a growl. The boys ran at him together noticing that they couldn't take him separately. Centuries of immortality makes one nearly indestructible, but only nearly. He punched Angel in the jaw before he saw it coming, but Spike grabbed his right arm and broke the bone right in half.

The Immortal howled in pain and fear crossed his eyes. He didn't let it stay though. He looked around as though he were looking for an escape. He'd made a mistake angering them so thoroughly before challenging them. Angel readied his stake as Spike round-housed him right into the ground. Angel finished him off and the worst enemy of the highest vampires in the Aurelian order became no more than dust on the wind.

Buffy squealed in delight and clapped her hands. "Yes! Finally! We gave that bastard just what he deserves, it might have taken a bit longer than I thought it would but still. We killed his not-so-immortal ass," Spike ranted excitedly.

Angel felt a bit relieved that it finally over with the Immortal, but somehow he still felt that he'd lost. "We should go. I wanna get back to LA before sunrise."

* * *

The jet landed at the LA branch of Wolfram & Hart. The people in Italy had called ahead to inform the more important members of the staff that would be arriving with an unidentified guest. After insisting that they ready the jet immediately for take-off, both Angel and Spike had refused to say a word on the subject. Buffy had been fascinated by a pretty hair pin that a paralegal was wearing and so didn't notice when the enthusiastic CEO had attempted to speak to her.

They headed immediately up to Angel's suitee and Angel went to find Buffy something she could wear until they took her shopping. He decided she'd have to make due with one of his shirts until he could borrow something from Harmony. He considered taking a dress from Fred's closet, but he didn't think he could deal with the still painful memories.

Angel went out to the living room where Buffy was examining every inch of the room, much like a cat in a new home. Spike was leaning against a table watching her.

"Buffy. I got you this. I thought you could wear it to sleep in and then I could-" Angel began.

"No!" Buffy shouted.

"She really likes that word doesn't she?" Spike said a bit amused.

Angel gave him an annoyed look. "Buffy you have to at least take the dress off so it can be washed. It smells like… You just can't wear it any longer. Not until it' clean."

"No. I won't do it," Buffy said certainly.

Angel rubbed his forehead. "Spike do something."

"Buffy. You need to let Angel wash the dress-"

"No! No he can't. I won't let him." She ran for the elevator and Angel caught her around the waist and pulled her away. She squirmed and kicked her legs. "No! No no! I love it, its' mine."

"Buffy, let me help you. This is ridiculous," Angel said. Buffy opened her mouth wide and bit right into Angel's arm. "Ahh, fuck, Buffy!"

Spike laughed. "You're gonna have to let her keep the dress mate."

"I'm not having her running around smelling like that. It's driving me crazy. I just want it washed you can have it back as soon as it's clean, I promise."

"No, no, no." Buffy shook her head.

"I'm not crazy about the smell either, but she looks like she'd rather chew through your arm than take the thing off. Plus now it's got your blood on it, so it's slightly less Immortaly."

"Doesn't matter. Help me get it off her."

"Noo!" Buffy shrieked. "You'll shut down the system!" She kicked Angel in the shin as hard she could and swung her legs trying to get free.

Spike looked at the struggling Buffy. He didn't want to upset her, but she smelt so strongly of the hated vampire that it was almost as if he were in the room with them. "Alright, Buffy hold still." The two fought to get the dress over her head. She refused to make it in any way easy for them and Spike worried it might tear. Begin so close to her, he noticed something. Underneath the smell that was clearly the Immortal, was something far more familiar. It was a smell that reminded him of home, because it was clearly Drusilla's. The bastard had stolen right off of her, or possibly killed her for it. He and Drusilla were over and done, but she was still his sire. Spike growled.

Buffy frozen when she heard it. The moment of distraction allowed them to slip the dress right off her head and Angel took it to the elevator and headed down stairs. Buffy hissed at him, but she didn't cause any more trouble. She seemed to be in a state of shock like she'd lost something she couldn't live without.

Spike felt bad for her. "Come on, pet. Let's get you cleaned up before Angel gets back." Buffy let Spike bathe her but she refused to let him wash the makeup off her face. Every time he tried she hissed and scratched and once growled. She wouldn't let him touch her hair either. He was okay with leaving the makeup if it made her happy, but her hair smelt worse than the dress had and he was not going leave it that way. They argued. Mostly Buffy just yelled no and Spike asked as nicely as he could, until she finally said, "Close your eyes."

"What for?"

"To wash my hair. You have to close your eyes," She said in a matter-of-fact way as though anyone would know that.

Spike sighed but went along with it. He closed his eyes and Buffy pulled out her hair piece and let her hair fall straight. Spike helped her wash her hair as much as he could with his eyes shut. When she was clean she put her hair back up and put the decorator back in place.

"Open now," Buffy said sweetly.

Spike opened his eyes. Her hair was perfectly clean, but a bit messy from being tied back while still wet. "Well, there you go, pet. You're all clean."

She smiled. "Like flowers in the spring." Spike wasn't sure just how clean spring flowers really are, but he smiled anyway. He got her a towel and dried her off before he went and got the shirt Angel had offered her earlier.

"You can wear this 'til you have your dress back."

"No."

Spikes eyes narrowed for a split second. He was getting a bit tired of her not cooperating. He decided not to fight her on it though and tossed the shirt across the room. She giggled and threw her towel on the floor. Apparently she decided that it's her dress or nothing at all, and that was just fine with Spike.

* * *

Angel walked into his suite to give Buffy back her dress. His possessiveness caused him to hold it to his chest just a little bit more than necessary, just so it smelt more like him than the brand of laundry detergent that Harmony had bought for him. No one was in the living room so he headed to the bedroom. There was water all over the floor. Angel rolled his eyes and entered the room. Buffy naked and standing by the window. She was standing on her toes trying to see over the building next to theirs. Spike was sitting on the bed looking like he'd been trying to tell her something when Angel came in.

"Angel. I was just telling Buffy that she should get some sleep, but insists that it's more important that she finds out where the stars are hiding."

"I can't seem to find them anywhere," She said looking around outside.

"I have something for you," Angel said.

Buffy spun around. When she saw her dress, she gasped and looked delighted. She ran over to Angel and took it from him. She pulled it carefully on and then spun around and around and around until Angel felt a bit dizzy watching her.

"You _should_ get to bed. The sun is will be up soon," Angel told her.

She nodded and climbed into Angel's bed. Spike kissed her forehead and the both boys said goodnight before shutting the door quietly behind them.

Angel sat down on the couch and Spike took the chair opposite. "I can't believe this. Can you?" Spike asked looking a bit dazed.

"Not really, but the reality of it is slowly growing on me." The sat in silence for a moment before Angel said, "You got water all over my floor."

"Yeah, I gave Buffy a bath. She's not the more cooperative of girls."

"No. She's really not."

"You're not going to comment on that?"

"I thought I did."

"I meant… me and Buffy, alone all naked and wet."

"Does it matter?"

"Well I'm glad we can set aside or differences here to save the girl we love."

Angel's already broody face went a lot darker. "We can't save her, Spike. She's gone. She's not even Buffy anymore… She's broken."


	3. Out For Blood

Angel was asleep on the couch when Spike's eyes snapped open. He'd fallen asleep sitting in the chair. Sunlight was shining through a crack in the curtain. With the specialized windows they didn't really need the curtains, but they didn't want the light to wake Buffy. It took a minute for Spike to realize what had woken him. He'd heard something in the suit. Buffy had screamed. He shook the sleep off and ran to the bedroom. He threw open the door and ran inside.

Buffy was sitting up in the middle of the bed squeezing Miss Anne tight. Her eyes were wide and staring. Spike looked around the room, but he neither saw nor felt anything that might have scared her. She must have had a nightmare he assumed. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. She looked up at him.

"It was the wolf," She whispered.

"It's alright love. He's gone now," Spike said. He picked her up and moved them back to the headboard. He laid her down next to him and held her until she fell back to sleep.

That's how Angel found them 2 hours later. He shut the door and went downstairs. Harmony was waiting impatiently in his office.

"Boss! Oh my _gosh _I was wondering when you'd be getting out of bed. You have all of these appointments and I didn't know what to tell anyone," She said quickly. "I kept saying you'd be called away unexpectedly and I would contact them when you-"

"Harmony. Give all of my meetings for the next week to Gunn and Wesley. I have something important that I need to take care of," Angel said.

"Oh. Okay. Well can I ask what it is?"

"No."

"Okay, but it's very difficult to keep a secret in a place like this. I'll bring you breakfast or lunch now really." She left.

Angel called down to Files and Records. He asked them to bring him anything on vampires with souls and reensouling vampires. There was no sense in looking himself when the records keepers knew everything and where it was located. They would know what he was reading before he even did.

Harmony returned with his blood and tried to get him to tell her what was going on. He refused and threatened to have her incinerated if she didn't leave him alone. So, she left and decided that it was best not to bother him. A cart of book books was brought into Angel's office. It was more than he'd expected, but most of the books looked like the ones he'd already looked through trying to find answers about his own soul. Now he needed to know how he could another vampire a soul and if it was possible to do so without hurting her. With Buffy having been tortured the way she was, he wasn't certain it was possible to give her a soul with pushing her broken mind into an irreparable state.

He grabbed the first book off of the stack and started reading. Most of what he read was about how vampires are soulless monsters with no emotions. He sighed and kept flipping. After the first three useless books, Angel stopped. He knew what he was doing was ridiculous. Buffy would never be able to handle a soul in her current state. He just felt so guilty for letting her feed like he did. She would only want to kill more people. He didn't think she would settle for animal blood and if he was being honest with himself, he didn't feel like he could force her to. The creature upstairs in his bed spooning with his childe, that wasn't Buffy. It was a whole new monster. A monster who looked like the girl he loved. A monster that he was responsible for one way or another. He would take care of her, keep her safe, and make sure she didn't go around slaughtering innocent people. A sire claim would be the perfect way to do that. He just needed her to trust him.

* * *

Spike woke gently. The low sunlight slipped through a crack in the curtain casting yellow light on wall. Buffy was fast asleep in his arms. She looked calm, comfortable, happy. It made him smile. He thought about what Angel had said, about her not being Buffy anymore. She certainly wasn't the same Buffy, but she was Buffy. There were plenty of things that Spike could see that were just the same. Like the way no matter how she fell asleep, she always ended up curled up on her side. The way she walked, the way she smiled, the way when she talked to him she seemed to get lost in whatever she was saying, but she always seemed confident that Spike had heard every word. Of course that last one could also be a condition of her insanity, but it seemed the same to him. She still smelt the same. She still smelt like Buffy, but with that familiar undead sort of smell that all vampires had. As far as Spike was concerned, this was his Buffy.

He looked at her thoughtfully and stroked her hair. Terrible things had happened to her to cause she current state, but this was exactly what Spike had wanted since he met this slayer. Almost exactly anyway, he would rather she were sane and it would be nice if she had a soul. He did after all go to lot of trouble to get his for her and now she had lost hers and he was stuck with his. He wasn't sure if it mattered or not. Was he really so different without his soul?

Buffy slowly opened her eyes. She arched her back and stretched. "Morning," Spike said. She looked at him and blinked her sleep glazed eyes. "Breakfast?" Buffy nodded and rubbed her stomach. "Come on then." He pulled her up out of bed with him and Buffy grabbed Ms. Anne before they went down stairs. Spike knew that Angel probably wanted to keep vampire Buffy a secret, but he really didn't care.

They ignored Harmony's surprised look went into the employee's kitchen. Spike pulled Angel's blood thermos out of the refrigerator and poor them both a mug. He tossed them in the microwave.

"Hey!" shouted a startled woman who had been sitting alone, eating a sandwich when the pair walked in. Buffy had grabbed the woman by the back of her head and was ready to bite her when Spike grabbed her and pulled her away.

"No, Buffy. You can't bite people."

"Why not?" She pouted.

"Because it's wrong. You have to drink animal blood like me and Angel."

Buffy looked at the woman who was staring rather paranoid at Buffy and rubbing her sore head. "But I don't want to."

"I know you don't, love, but you haven't got a choice." The microwave beeped and Spike handed a warm mug to her. Buffy set her doll down on the counter. She sniffed it and made a disgusted face at Spike. "It takes some getting used to, but it's not that bad." He drank down half of his own glass while Buff twisted the cup in her hands sloshing the gooey liquid around. Spike watched her hoping she would just drink it and with putting up a fuss. The last thing he needed was that lawyer woman to call security on Buffy and start a fight between him and Angel. So far the woman seemed to feel safe enough to finish her meal, but her eyes never left Buffy.

Buffy put the cup to her lips and slowly poured a few drops into her mouth, barely enough to taste. She wrinkled her nose and looked at Spike questioningly. He nodded and said "Go on." So she drank a few quick gulps. When she was finished she made a show of how unpleasant she found with a few more disgusted faces a gagging noise or two. Spike finished off his own breakfast and left the mugs on the counter for someone who cared to clean up. He handed Ms. Anne to Buffy.

They went back toward Angel's elevator. Harmony ran out from behind her desk to stop them. "Spike! Wait a sec."

Spike sighed and looked annoyed at her. "What, Harmony?"

"Is that Buffy? If she a-a vampire? 'Cause she really looks a like a vampire."

"What? Don't be ridiculous, she's Buffy." They looked at her. Buffy was busy eyeing the throat of every person that walked by. Harmony raised an eyebrow. "She's just a bit... well she's... okay yeah, she's a vampire. Just don't go around telling people."

"I won't."

"I mean it Harm."

"Alright, I won't gosh. Why's she dressed like that though? Becoming a vampire doesn't actually change a person's sense of style and Buffy _had_ style."

"What? It's a nice dress," Spike said defensively.

"What's with the hair?"

Buffy suddenly looked at her and glared. "And your hair is so great?"

"_Excuse me, _but do you see my hair? It's perfect."

"Ms. Anne thinks you'd better go a little less on the moisturizer. You're all shiny, like plastic," Buffy said irritated.

"What?" Harmony looked at Spike. "What did she just say to me?"

"Piss off Harm." Spike pulled Buffy to the elevator. Buffy looked over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at Harmony. Harmony huffed and went back to her desk.

Back upstairs Buffy entertained herself by dancing across every inch of the suit on her toes. Spike sat in the chair and watched her. She covered the living room, bathroom, bedroom, even the closet before she finally got bored of it and sat down on the sofa. She stroked Ms. Anne's hair and made a point not to look at Spike except to glare.

"Still made about the blood then pet?" Buffy ignored him. "I'm sorry, but you really can't go around killing people." Buffy tossed her doll down on the sofa and stormed to the window. She threw open the curtain where the last bit of sunlight was still shining over the nearest building. She face was disbelieving of the result. "Sorry, love." Spike rapt the glass with a knuckle. "Special glass. The sun can't hurt you inside."

Buffy growled frustratedly. She was determined to get what she wanted. She ran to Angel's room and threw the closet open. Noticing Angel's weapons trunk on the floor, she opened it pulled out a rather large knife. Spike came into the room just before she carved a long, angled slit up her left arm. "Buffy!" He grabbed her around the waist and tossed the knife away. "You can cut yourself up all you like, but you'll get more pigs blood now stop this."

"_Spike_," Buffy whined. "Please."

"No."

She pouted.

"No, Buffy." She grabbed the arm around her waist and dug her nails into it."Ow!" He shouted. He spun her around and shoved her to the wall pining her arms at her side. "Stop. It. I mean it, Buffy. I'm not letting you kill anyone."

She whined and pouted and eventually calmed down a bit. Spike let her go. She shoved him to the floor and ran off. Laying on the floor spike could see under Angel's bed. He rolled his eyes. _Demon's never change._ He ran off to catch Buffy who had just reached the elevator. He dragged her back to the bedroom. She kicked and squirmed and screeched at him, but he wasn't let her out go. If she killed someone Angel would feel obligated to stake her and he refused to let that happen.

He tossed her down on the bed and pulled the chains he'd found out from underneath. He chained her to the headboard. She growled at him, but she calmed down.

The elevator pinged and Angel stormed in. "Spike!" He stomped into the bedroom. He saw Buffy on the bed and his grew wide. He shook his head. "I don't have time for this. You brought her down stairs! Harmony just told me. She almost killed someone!"

"Calm down. We were hungry. I wasn't gonna leave her up here on her own."

"Why the hell not?" He shouted.

"Great plan, we'll just leave her alone so she can wander off and _really_ kill someone."

Buffy nodded enthusiastically. "I like that plan."

Angel looked at her. "Why is she tied up?"

"She was tryin' to kill people." Angel sighed. "I took care of it. She'll be fine."

"What are we gonna do with you, Buffy?" He rubbed his forehead. "We can't have you killing people."

"What if we did though?" Spike asked.

"What?"

"I mean... there are people in this world that we could all do without."

"That doesn't mean they deserve to die, Spike. We don't get to choose who lives and dies."

"We used to. Buffy is what we used to be. She's going to stop, just like we never would have given the same. No one could blame you."

"Of course they could, it would be _my_ fault!"

"Says who? She doesn't belong to you in any way. You've pretty much said so."

Angel walked over to the window and stood still and silent as the last few rays of sunlight disappeared from the sky. When he turned away from the window, he looked toward the door as though looking to escape something. His face was dark.

"The key is in the drawer by the bed." He headed for the elevator. "I'll meet you both outside."

Spike retrieved the key and unlocked Buffy who looked about as confused as he was. "What do think all that's about?" He asked her. She stared off after Angel for a moment. Her eyes lit up. She was going to get what she wanted after all. She went into the living room and grabbed Ms. Anne as she and Spike followed Angel out. Buffy couldn't help but smile.


	4. The Glory In Bloodshed

Spike and Buffy stood out on the street in front of Wolfram & Hart. Being Los Angeles, the city never completely quieted down and there were a few people out walking, probably headed out to have a bit of fun. Buffy's eyes followed each person as they walked passed. If anyone noticed them, they hid it well. Wolfram & Hart being a regular demon spot, most people likely just ignored anything they saw coming or going from there.

Angel pulled his car around and stopped next to the curb. "Come on," He called to them. They got in the car, Spike in the front. Angel didn't look at either of them, he just drove off without a word.

Angel parked the car in an old dirty alley way. The three climbed out of the car. Angel walked to the entrance of the alley and surveyed the area. There were bound to be plenty of murders, drug dealers, and rapists hanging around this side of town.

"We should head up that way. Take a look around," Angel said pointing further down the road.

"Actually, I thought the other way looked better," Spike said joining him.

"No one asked your opinion Spike." Angel said bitterly.

"No need to get so bossy. I was-"

"It doesn't matter. We need to find her some low life to snack on so we can get out of here."

"Look, she's practically a newborn you know how that is."

"Yeah, I do, and that's why I want to get her home before she can snatch some innocent bystander."

"I don't think we'll be finding many innocent anythings on this side of town."

"You never know."

Spike looked at Buffy who was standing near the car, holding her doll. "Does she even know how to hunt, do you think?"

"No idea, that's the sort of thing a sire teaches you."

"Well she hasn't really got one of those, does she?"

"I was working on that," Angel said before he could stop himself.

"You were _what_?" Spike exclaimed. "How? Wait, you were gonna claim her weren't you?"

Angel rolled his eyes. "It's not important right now."

"Like hell it's not! She's not yours to claim _Angel_ or have you forgotten. Didn't you say she's not even Buffy anymore? You don't even care about her-"

"Of course I do! I know that she's not Buffy, but... sometimes it's almost like she is. The way she looks at me..."

Spike calmed down a bit. "I know what you mean. That still doesn't give you the right to go and claim her behind my back."

"I'm the sire of this clan-"

"Oh! We're a _clan _now? When were you going to tell _me_ that," Spike said getting irritated again.

"You don't want to be a clan, to have a family again?"

"Clans are for _real _demons. We have souls, Angel. We don't need a clan."

"Well Buffy does. She needs to be taught and guided and cared for."

"Well-" Spike was cut off by the sound of screaming. The pair whirled around. Buffy was gone.

* * *

Spike and Angel started bickering as Buffy climbed out of the car. She rolled her eyes. Could they ever get along? No. Buffy didn't think it seemed very possible. The shouting died down for a moment before it started back up. Buffy sighed and rested her free hand on her empty stomach. The pig's blood Spike had feed her had done next to nothing for her hunger.

There was a shuffling sound behind her. She turned around. The alley was long and ended at a brick wall. From where she stood, no human would have been able to see the end. It would have appeared to go on forever. It was the perfect place for someone to hide. There was a dumpster about halfway down the alley. Something thumped ever so slightly against it. Buffy walked slowly toward it to investigate. She looked back over her shoulder. The boys were so busy with their argument that they didn't even notice she'd moved.

She reached the dumpster and peered around the side of it. Nothing. She was certain she'd heard something. She could feel someone nearby. Someone other than Angel or Spike. Human, but a human who spent enough time in the dark to smell vaguely of demons. She turned on the spot, searching with her eyes. There was a dull thump directly behind her and hand covered her mouth as a blade was pressed to her throat. Buffy was a bit stunned for a moment.

"Keep quiet," Her captor hissed in her ear. The voice was male and fairly young. "Come with me." He pushed her forward toward the back of the alley. Buffy grabbed the wrist holding the knife. The young man tried to turn the point into her throat, but her grip was like iron.

"What the hell?" The man asked just before Buffy used her grip on his arm to throw him over her head. He landed flat on his back, the wind knocked out of him. Buffy jumped on top of him and straddled his waist. The man thought the doll she clutched to her chest created the image of innocence and curiosity. She changed into her true face and such ideas left the man's head. He screamed. Buffy leaned down and bit into the man's neck. His screaming stopped and he gasped for air. Terror constricted his throat and adrenalin coursed through his veins.

"Buffy!" Spike and Angel yelled as they ran toward her. Angel was about to pull her off the man, but Spike through his arm out in front of him. He pointed at the knife lying on the ground next to the man.

"Looks like she found herself dinner," Spike remarked.

"More like dinner found her," Angel said.

They stood and watched Buffy feed. It didn't take her long to finish him off and lick the blood off of her lips. She stood and stepped away from the man. She looked down at him as curiously, her head tilted slightly to the side.

Spike sighed, surveying the corpse. Angel set to work getting rid of any evidence of vampire activity in case the body was actually found. He knelt next to the corpse and picked up the knife. He stabbed the man in the throat destroying the marks left by Buffy's fangs. The man's wallet bulged against his coat pocket. Angel took it and slipped it into his own coat pocket. He tossed the body in the dumpster and closed the lid. He kicked the knife underneath. The whole thing would look like a robbery gone wrong, no one would bother to investigate further.

"That's done then," Angel said. "We should get back home."

"The night's only stared," Buffy pouted. "It's boring in that cage."

"We could go see a movie," Spike suggested.

Angel rolled his eyes. "A movie. Sure."

Buffy smiled. Spike put an arm around her shoulder's and the three walked back to Angel's car. Angel had just reached the driver's door when there was another scream. It was a woman and it came from somewhere nearby. Angel shared a look with Spike before running off in the direction of the scream.

"Stay here. Wait for us to get back," Spike told Buffy before running after him. Buffy sighed and leaned against the side of the car as she watched them run off.

A second scream from the woman was cut off abruptly, but it sent the boys in the right direction. The woman was inside and dusty old building. The newest thing on it was the reinforced front door. It was clearly the hideout of someone who had nothing good up their sleeve. Angel kicked the door in. Nothing stopped him from entering the building. Demons.

"Hey!" A guard yelled noticing their entrance. There were two vampire's keeping watching of the door. They were young and no match for the two master vampires that had barged their way inside.

The pair headed into the main part of the building, a large room with several large machines that reached from the floor all the way to the high ceiling. In the middle of all the machinery, a large gray demon stood over top of a crying woman who was held by another vampire. He pulled her right arm behind her back and held her throat. There was a large metal spike protruding from the floor. At it's base was the body of a man who had been forced onto it. There were gray candles surrounding the group in a circle, outside of which stood more large gray demons.

"Prekian demons," Angel whispered.

"How do we kill them?" Spike asked.

"Anything goes." Angel charged into the middle of the group. He staked the vampire who held the woman. The demon standing before him was outraged and growled frustrated before Spike appeared behind him and snapped his neck. The woman tried to run, but was grabbed by two Prekian demons standing outside of the circle. She screamed and twisted in their arms trying to break free. None of the other demons moved as though determined not to break the circle.

Always prepared, Angel pulled a blade from inside his coat and cut off the head of one of the demon holding the woman. Spike snapped the second's neck. The rest ran off and disappeared somewhere inside the back of the building.

"Are you alright?" Angel asked the woman. She nodded. Her whole body was shaking. Her eyes fell on the body of the man on the spike and she sobbed. "You're safe now,' He tried to reassure her.

Spike crouched next to the body and examined the circle. "Looks like they were doing some sort of ritual. Should we go after them?"

"No. Prekian demons are known for their ritual sacrifices, but they don't stay in one place long. They're probably long gone."

Spike sniffed and looked up at Angel. "Buffy." His eyes widened as he looked behind Angel. Angel turned around. Buffy held the woman around the waist. Her fangs were buried in the woman's neck.

"Buffy, no!" Angel shouted. She pulled her face away from the woman and looked up at him blinking innocently. Angel pulled the woman out of Buffy's arms. He check for her pulse. It was very faint, but if they got her to a hospital she had a chance. Angel carried the woman outside and headed back to the car.

Buffy looked confused. She looked questioningly at Spike. "We've already told you, pet. You can't go around killing people. That was a very bad thing you did. That woman could die."

"Yes. I meant to kill her."

"That's bad, Buffy. You're not allowed to kill anyone."

"But that man... I killed him. Angel took care of the body." She shook her head confused.

"That was different. He attacked you. He wasn't a good person and he would have killed people. That woman wasn't bad. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Buffy's face fell. She was upset that she had disappointed Angel and Spike. "Come on. We'd better catch up to Angel."

* * *

"Something has to be done about her, Spike!" Angel hissed. They were in his office. Buffy was upstairs in Angel's suite. "She's out of control."

"She's a childe, Angel," Spike defended her. "She doesn't know any better. She can't feel remorse for killing people, but she looked awfully disturbed when she realized how upset you. I think if we just explain to her that it's important to us she'll at least try."

"She's still a vampire. One without a soul. She's too young to control the blood lust. We took our eyes off her for 5 minutes and she nearly killed that woman."

"So we'll watch her more closely."

"I still have a job to do. I can't spend all my time watching her."

"So I'll watch her."

"You. You'll watch her 24/7 and not leave her side for a single second?"

"Well... when you put it like that it _does_ sound awfully... I took care of Dru didn't I?"

"You weren't concerned about how many people she killed."

"What are we supposed to do then, leave the girl chained to your bed for the rest of her existence?" Angel looked at him as though seriously considering it. "That was a joke."

"I know that."

"Didn't look like it."

The door swung open and Gunn walked in followed closely by Wesley. "Hate to interrupt the heated private discussion fellas, but uh-" The glare he got from Angel was enough to shut him up. "Uh, Wesley, could you uh..."

"What? Uh, well. We demand to know what all of this secretive behavior is about," Wesley said sounding authoritative. He lowered his voice, "There's a rumor going around that you two have Buffy Summer's locked away in your suite and that she's... she's a vampire."

"Shouldn't believe everything you hear, Wes," Angel said.

"Well, no, but-"

"Don't let them lie to you!" Harmony yelled as she entered the room. "I _saw _her with Spike."

Gunn crossed his arms and looked to Angel for an explanation. Angel glared at Spike.

"What?" Spike shrugged. "I'm amazed she managed to keep her mouth shut about it for this long. Even more amazed that you didn't tell her too."

"I thought I had." Angel gave Harmony a deadly look. She flinched, but to her credit didn't back down.

"So the slayer's been turned," Gunn said. "Why?"

"We didn't turn her," Angel tried to explain.

"Has her watcher been informed of this?" Wesley asked.

"Giles isn't her watcher anymore, but no. We haven't told anyone," Angel said.

"What about her family, Angel? Don't you think Dawn has a right to know that her sister is dead?" Wesley asked.

"I didn't really think about it."

"She's not dead," Spike insisted. "She's still Buffy."

"Look." Angel sighed. "I'll call Dawn and Willow and anyone else who's number we have. You're right. They should have been told immediately."

"What are you gonna do with her?" Gunn asked.

"What like she's an animal?" Harmony asked annoyed.

"I meant she's a demon now. She'll be wanting to kill, kill, kill and it's our job to kill things that kill."

"We're taking care of that," Angel said.

"Are you going try ensouling her?" Wesley asked.

"It's too risky."

"Why's that? You and Spike received souls just fine. I don't see why-"

"Just trust me. We'll handle it."

* * *

Buffy stood by the window, watching the sky. There wasn't many visible stars to see. Even with vampire vision there were only 2 or 3 and they were very dim. Buffy sighed, feeling bored. She sat down on the side of Angel's bed. A moment later, there was a dull ache in her head. It grew suddenly stronger. It wasn't enough to truly painful, but it was certainly distracting. The room in front of her disappeared and suddenly she was somewhere else.

She was underground in some type of mine shaft. Angel was there, but his hair was long and his clothes were old. She turned and she could see Spike. His hair was also longer and he hadn't dyed it. Darla and Drusilla stood a few feet away from them where the boys were arguing. She smiled. They never really changed. Angelus grabbed William by his coat and shoved him down onto a cart. He let the younger go and walked away.

"What's a slayer?" She heard William call to Angelus.

The way Angelus explained it was fascinating. Of course Buffy already knew what a slayer was, but it hadn't occurred to her that the slayer could be a danger to her. Then she remembered. Spike had killed a slayer. Two of them even. The room reformed around her and ache in her head slowly faded.

She picked up Miss Anne from beside her on the bed. "Oh Miss Anne, did you see them? Beautiful they were. Such beautiful creators of death and destruction. I want to see them. As they were before. We could show them Miss Anne. We could show them what they were." She held her doll in her lap as she thought up a plan to show Angel and Spike the glory in being Angelus and William.


	5. The Amulet

**A bit of a mini chapter since I haven't had a lot of time to write lately, but the next chapter should be extra exciting to make up for it.**

* * *

"How will we find our way to the old world, Miss Anne? Surely it's a path on which many are lost," Buffy said to her doll as she stood at the window. Spike was fast asleep on the sofa behind her. Angel was working. The insane girl was glad to have some time alone so she could plan. "It won't be easy." Buffy sighed. "I just wish..." Buffy smiled to herself. She know how to make her wish come true.

She pressed the button to call the elevator and watched Spike's sleeping form anxiously. He didn't wake and she slipped into the large metal box unnoticed. She reached the main floor and headed off to find the records room. A friendly lawyer who knew a lost girl when she saw one pointed her in the right direction.

She ignored the many rows of cabinets and made her way to the attendant. "I need to know the last known location of a certain vengeance demon."

* * *

Spike bolted upright. He was covered in sweat and his muscles were tense. He'd been having a nightmare about the Immortal. He kept seeing that bastard's face just before he... He looked around. Buffy wasn't there. He jumped up off of the couch.

"Buffy!" He shouted. He ran to the bathroom. No Buffy. Then the bedroom. She wasn't there either. He spun around and ran to the elevator.

"Spike?" She said behind him.

He spun around and grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug. "Don't scare me like that, pet."

"I'm sorry," She said as Spike put let her go.

"What were you doing?"

"Miss Anne is no good at hide and seek." She turned her head to the doll sitting backward in a chair in the living room.

Spike chuckled. "If she were a good seeker I'd be rather concerned."

Buffy looked at him a bit confused as though it made all the sense in the world for that doll to get out of the chair and come looking for her. "I'm hungry again."

"Sun 's still up. We've got a few hours yet. Have you slept at all?" Buffy shook her head. "Well you can't kill if you're dead on your feet. Come on." He led her to Angel's bed and tucked her in. She pouted. "Want me to lay with you?" She smiled. He laughed. "Alright, move over."

Spike held her until he fell asleep. She gently squirmed her way out of his arms. She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek before going into the living room and pulling out the amulet she'd acquired. When she'd asked the Files and Records woman about vengeance demons the woman had been kind enough to inform Buffy that an amulet was currently in position of Wolfram & Hart's LA branch and that it had belong to Halfrek. The demon having been killed couldn't be restored, but one _could _summon a sort of doppelganger to take Halfrek's place.

It wasn't hard to convince the man watching over the magical artifacts room that Angel had sent her to retrieve the amulet. It wouldn't be long before Angel found out she'd taken it. She'd have to work fast. She wasn't sure how one summons a vengeance demon. Should she put the amulet on? Or maybe she just willed them to appear. Should she say something?

"Halfrek," She began uncertainly. "I summon you."

The effect was immediate. A swirl of gray smoke appeared and within it formed Halfrek. "What is it you desire?" Her voice was sort of distorted as though she were speaking through a recording. _Hello, you've reached Halfrek. Leave your wish at the tone. _Buffy thought amused.

"Halfrek, I wish I had the ability to take my family back in time."

The face of the Halfrek doppelganger changed to demon form. "Wish granted." The amulet in her hands shimmered. "This will take you when you want to go along with anyone you are touching. Beware, once you return to the present, the amulet will be restored to it's previous form and will no longer allow you to move through time. Good luck." She disappeared the way she came and left Buffy with a wide grin on her face.

* * *

Angel sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He was headed upstairs hoping for an hour or two to relax before the sunset and Buffy demanded to be taken out to go hunt. He'd had a particularly heated argument with a local demon clan that refused to stop killing. It ended when and he and Gunn cut the heads off of the leader and his second in command leaving the rest of the clan shocked and confused. From there it wasn't hard to convince them to take up eating processed meats from the grocery store instead of their diet of roasted human flesh.

Upstairs, he found Buffy asleep on Spike's chest in his bed. He'd been hoping Spike would be on the couch so he could have the bed, but he'd have to settle for the couch himself. He kicked his shoes off and plopped down on his back. The couch, which was normally rather comfy, seemed to have a small hard lump under the right cushion. He reached underneath and found something hard and round. It looked like some sort of amulet or talisman. He tucked it into his jacket pocket and tossed the jacket onto a chair. Angel was asleep before he think too much about it.

* * *

"No! Where is it?" Buffy shrieked. She knew she'd left it in the sofa. She pulled up each cushion and felt down in all the cracks. She looked underneath the sofa and chairs. It wasn't there or underneath the table. She stood up and spun around. It had to be here somewhere.

Angel came out of the bedroom where he'd been changing. "Ready to go?" He asked her.

"Uh... I- It's lost."

"What's lost?"

"I need it. I need it to help you see again. It must be here." She looked behind the couch and along every inch of the floor.

"Buffy, what is it?" She ignored him. He felt the lump in his jacket pocket and remembered the amulet he found. He pulled it out and held it by the chain. "Is this what you're looking for?"

Buffy saw the amulet in his hand and her eyes grew wide. "Yes! You've recovered it." She reached for it but Angel pulled it out of reach.

"What is it?"

"Miss Anne thinks it will help. We need it to help."

"Help what?"

Buffy shook her head. "No. Give it!" She grabbed for the amulet but Angel slipped it into his pocket.

"I think I'd rather hang on to it."

"_No_," Buffy whined. "It will help though."

Angel considered giving it back due to the heartbroken look on the poor girl's face. He couldn't risk it though. He wasn't sure where she had gotten it or what it could do, but he'd keep it until he found out. If it turned out to be just a pretty rock that in her damaged mind was somehow useful he'd give it back, but he thought it best to play it safe.

They went downstairs and outside. Spike was waiting with the car. "What took you two so long?"

"Don't worry about it," Angel said.

Spike looked at Buffy in the rear view mirror and was about to ask again when he received a glare from Angel and decided to wait to ask once they'd both moved on. He drove back down to the shady side of town and pulled into the alley that was becoming quite familiar. They climbed out of the car and proceeded down the side-walk. Spike didn't argue with Angel's leading this time. The other two seemed to have a sort of tension between them. Buffy kept eyeing Angel's right side. No matter where he went, she kept it in view as though she needed it to survive. It was clear to Spike that it wasn't Angel she was after, but more likely something he had.

They found a man who smelt strongly of fresh human blood other than his own. Buffy feed quickly, never taking her eyes off of Angel. The body was shoved through an open basement window. As they turned to leave Buffy seemed to perk up and skipped a bit as she looped her arms through both Angel and Spike's. They walked back to the alley, but the car wasn't there.

"Great!" Angel shouted dropping Buffy's arm and looking around for any sign of the missing vehicle. There wasn't a single clue. It was just gone.

"Looks like we're walking home," Spike said.

"Not exactly," Buffy said with a wide smile. Against her chest rested the amulet. Angel patted his coat pocket where he'd been keeping it. Buffy, never dropping letting go of Spike's arm, lunged forward and grabbed Angel's hand. She closed her eyes, the amulet grew warm, and the world around them faded into a blinding white light.


	6. Chasing Wolves

**Busy, busy, busy... I apologize for how long this one took.**

* * *

The force of being pulled through time had knocked all three vampire's unconscious. Buffy was the first to wake. She was lying flat on her back in an alley similar to the one they'd been in before. Spike and Angel were lying on either side of her. She walked to the entrance of the alley and looked at the people passing by. They all wore leather boots and hand sewn dresses. The air smelt more natural than she was used to, but it faintly stunk of sewage and rot. Buffy smiled. Now she just had to find Angelus. Then she could show them what they had been. She joined the crowd into the center of town. _Now, where would the demon king hunt? _She asked herself.

There was a massive crowd filing out of a building that seemed better cared for than the others. The people that left the building dressed far more extravagantly than the others and every woman was escorted by a man in a top hat. _An opera house,_she thought. She weaved through the crowd and made her way to the building. She waited in sight of the door. After a few minutes, Angel's long haired demon persona left the building with a familiar blonde on his arm. Darla. Behind him Drusilla hung onto a young William's arm looking awfully smug about the attention both of them got from anyone they passed. William didn't seem to notice the admiring stares. In fact he looked a bit bored. _Found you my lovelies._

She followed them at a distance. Thankfully, she was down wind of them. They weaved gracefully through the crowd and walked down past the residential area. The houses were small, but neat. A few had a small garden growing in front. Buffy was distracted by a row of pinks ones that looked as though they had faces. She turned back to her trail to find that she had almost lost them. They rounded the corner and Buffy hurried to catch up.

They were headed deeper into the village, where the houses were a bit larger and there were fewer on every row. Angelus held the door of one that was not unlike the rest and allowed the girls to enter but left the door swing and bump William in the shoulder. He sighed irritated before closing the door behind him. _Time to show my princes what they're missing._

Buffy smiled to herself. She could smell the sunrise about an hour away. They would need a place to sleep for the night. Once the sunset she'd convince them both to come and see what she'd found. They were likely to be very angry with her, but they needed to see. She had to show them what they were. What they _could be _again. She went back to the alley where she'd left them. They were both awake, but of course they were arguing.

* * *

When Angel woke up, his back was stiff from the hard ground and his head ached like someone had hit him with a brick. He sat up with a groan. Spike was sitting next to him, looking a bit shocked. "Where are we?"

"Europe. Not sure where exactly." He looked pointedly at the crowded street. "Not sure 'where' is the real question though."

Angel rubbed the back of his head. "What do you mean?" He looked toward the street. He blink disbelieving. "What?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah, and here I didn't think time travel was possible."

"It's not."

"Tell that to Buffy."

Angel looked around. "Where _is_ Buffy?" Both vampires jumped to their feet and looked around. "Buffy!"

"Buffy!" Spike called as he looked around frantically.

A couple on the street stopped and stared for a minute.

"Drunks," The man muttered under his breath, but they heard him.

"Hey!" Spike yelled. The couple scurried off looking like they'd seen a ghost.

"Where is she?" Angel marched frustrated to the back-end of the alley. Spike walked to the street and looked around. Angel rejoined him. "No sign of her back there." He looked down the street. "Of course it's not hard to get lost in English cities."

"This isn't England."

"Really, 'cause it sure smells like it."

"Dirty town, dirty drunken people, this is _not _the mother country, it's... yeah this could be England."

"I can't even smell her. Everything just smells like filth." Angel kicked an old cardboard box frustratedly. Several papers spilled out. Angel started pacing. "Where would she go?"

Spike crouched and picked up a paper. It was a flier for a local theater. It was a theater in Budapest, but the flier was in English since the troupe that was in town was from England. It was advertising a play that was familiar to him. Othello. Good play. Of course afterward Angelus had made him stand around while he socialized with some blonde aristocrat that Darla later vowed to kill. He had seen it with Drusilla, Angelus, and Darla while in Budapest some time around 1894. Just before they went to Romania. "Look at this." He handed Angel the flier.

"Great. She's gone chasing after Angelus."

"How do you know it was Angelus? Maybe she's looking to find herself William the Bloody."

"Don't make this about you Spike."

"_Me? I'm _making this about _me?_ You're the one who said she was 'chasing after Angelus' I was just making a point that we really have no idea what she's after."

"No you were being jealous."

"Was not!"

"Were so, in fact you still are."

"Am not! And anyway we both know I'm better looking, so if she's going after anyone it'll be me."

"Oh, _yeah right,_ Spike."

"It's true!"

"Look, I don't know what's going on in screwed up head, but it doesn't-"

"Stop talking about her like that! She's dealing better than Drusilla ever did. She's doing the best she can with what's happened to her. I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thing is your fault!" Spike ended his rant with a jabbed to Angel's chest. Angel growled and was prepared to rip Spike's head off when he noticed someone standing a few feet away.

"Buffy," Spike sighed relieved.

Angel backed away from Spike. "Buffy, where have you been?"

"I was chasing the wolves," She said simply. "We have to go now. Before the sun."

"Right. Where are we gonna stay?" Angel asked looking around.

"I have an idea," Spike said. He strode out of the alley and walked up to a lone man. He slipped into his old 19th century accent. "Excuse me. My companions and I need a room for the night. Could you be so kind as to point me toward the inn?"

The stranger eyed Spike's strange clothing and hair. "No inn is going to take you lot in looking like that. You can try can stay out in the stables if you like," The man said spitefully. "It's up that way." He pointed up the street.

"Thank you," Spike said sure to be the gentleman in the end. The man even looked a bit surprised before giving an irritated grunt and skulking away. He went back to the others.

"Great so we can find the inn now. Could have done that anyway. You could just follow the trail of drunks," Angel said unimpressed.

"Yeah, but we didn't have this before." Spike held up the change purse that he'd nicked from the man as he walked away. "All I have on me is 5 dollars and one of your credit cards. Didn't think that would do us a lot of good."

"You stole one of my- Nevermind. Let's go."

They got a room at the inn which to Angel was a bit surprising. Three strange newcomers claiming to a pair of actors traveling with their sister (we had an abusive father) wearing cloths that no one had ever seen before (it's the latest in Paris) and asking for a place to sleep when it time for the other tenants to waking up, it was amazing they hadn't been shooed away and left to take up refuge in the sewers. The room had one window which the covered with one of the two only blankets they had. There was one cot for a bed. They hadn't been able to afford any better, but it was better than rat filled sewers.

Angel and Spike stared each other down, silently arguing over who would share the bed with Buffy. Normally Angel wouldn't have minded the floor, but he knew 19th century Europe pretty well. The floor was sure to be covered in beer, vomit, urine, and any number of smelly filthy things. He _really _didn't want to wake up smelling like that.

"I am _not _sleeping on the floor," Angel said.

"Well _I'm_ bloody well not."

Buffy groaned. "No. Too tired for fighting. It's the burning time. Means it's time to sleep." She grabbed each of them by an arm and pulled them to the cot. She shoved them down side by side and clambered on top. "There, sleep now." She made her self comfy with her head on Angel's chest and her body along Spike's. He turned so his chest was against her back and put an arm around her waist. Angel sighed before he finally gave in and went to sleep.

* * *

_Bang! Bang! Bang! _Someone pounded on the door. Spike sprung to his feet like a cat, jolted out of his sleep. Angel shot upright and Buffy was shoved off his chest to look curiously at the door from the cot next.

"Sirs," The inn keeper called. "You's only paid for one night and I got others waitin' for a room."

Spike looked at the window where the light was still streaming in. It was at least 3 hours from sunset. Angel shared a look with them. What could they do? They couldn't even open the door for very long without the light from the hall burning their flesh.

The inn keeper knocked again. "Sirs?"

"I've got an idea," Angel whispered. "Play along." He went to the door and cracked it open. He kept himself behind the door and out of direct light. When he spoke, his voice cam out smooth and Irish. "My apologies. It's just my sister. She's very ill. She needs her rest."

The man looked into the room to where the pale and drowsy Buffy did in fact look rather sick. He shook his head. "I can't make any exceptions. This is the only lodgin's in town and these are paying customers. I'm sorry but you'll have to go elsewhere."

Angel sighed. "Plan b, then." He grabbed the man and hulled him into the room with one arm. He kicked the door closed and pressed his free hand over the man's mouth. "So, do we knock him out or..." He jerked his head and Buffy's direction. She was busy watching a few specs of dust caught in the single beam of light that streamed in through the window.

Spike wasn't sure. They locked eyes, silently debating their moral dilemma. If he were killed they'd have more time, but it would be their fault that an innocent man had died. If they just knocked him out there would be less chance of anyone noticing a vampire presence, but if he awoke, they had nothing to gag him with and he would scream for help.

Spike squeezed his eyes shut. He knew what needed to be done here, but he couldn't say it out loud. Angel go the message. It made his stomach twist and his soul screamed inside his head. He couldn't take it. He through the man down smacking his head on the stone floor. He'd live. They just had to hope he didn't wake before the sun could set.

The three sat side by side on the cot. "We need to watch the wolves," Buffy said thoughtfully. "We must watch them dance and play."

"What wolves?" Spike asked. Angel snorted. Buffy gave him an irritated look. "Ignore him pet. Tell me about the wolves."

"They're beautiful. It's out mission to watch them. Afterward the good fairy will allow us to go home."

"I see," Spike said. "Do you know where the wolves are?"

Buffy nodded. "I found them."

"Did they see you?"

"I don't think so."

"This is ridiculous," Angel scoffed. "She's speaking nonsense and you know it."

"_No_ I think we both know that she's not. You just want to pretend that she's broken and can't think for herself so _you_ don't have to be nice to her."

"That' not true. And I _am _nice to her. Isn't that right, Buffy?"

Buffy gave him a puzzled sort of look as if she were unsure. "Some knights are less than noble," She mumbled.

Spike gave Angel a pointed look. "What? What does that even mean?"

"It means you're a bloody wanker. Also, you just acknowledged that she _can _think by asking her a question so I think you can lay off the whole 'Buffy is less than sentient' routine and start treating her like a sodding person."

They were quiet after that. Until Buffy said, "The wolves go chasing on the whirlwind. They won't get much further."

Angel fit the pieces together. "She's talking about us isn't she, Angelus and William?"

Spike nodded.

"Buffy, you have to get us back home. We can't stay in the 19th century. We don't belong here," Angel tried to reason with her.

"No. I must show you before. I need what it was then. The wolves, Angel!" Buffy argued determined.

Neither was sure what Buffy was up to. Both knew it couldn't be anything good. It was clear that she held some way of getting them back to their own time, but she wouldn't help them until she had what she wanted. Angel was certain that the amulet she kept tucked under her dress was the key.

* * *

The sun set and to the boys' luck, the man didn't wake but remained breathing. As they left, Angel told a maid in the hall that there had been an accident. They made it out of the inn and half way down the street before she found the man and started screaming. The group headed off until Angel stopped them and went into a shop. Spike and Buffy shared a confused look before following after him.

Angel approached the man keeping shop. "We're travelers and we've come a long way. We'll be needin' new clothes." He dropped a small bag of coins onto the counter. The man's eyes grew wide before he regained his composure. He each of them in turn before heading into the back.

"Where did you get that?" Spike whispered surprised.

"What, you're the only one who can pick-pocket unwary persons?" He whispered back.

"You expect us to play dress up then?"

"If Buffy insists we stay, we'd better look the part before people start to notice and ask questions."

"Agreed, but how are we going to get Buffy to... I mean we can't get that dress off of her let alone get her to wear something new."

"She doesn't have to take the dress off, as long as she puts another one over it. No one will notice and I think she'll be okay with that."

The girl in question had wandered to a display of woman's shoes and seemed to have found a pair she liked. The man came out of the back holding a large pile of clothing. He spent some time finding something that fit them all just right. The boys were dressed in suits and waistcoats while Buffy was given a lovely blue silk gown that she fitted nicely over her own without complaint. Especially after Angel promised her the boots she admired.

While Buffy was tying up her new pretty white boots, Spike caught Angel eyeing a rack of tops hats. "If you even think about put one of those on my head, I will kill you," He muttered low enough to be unheard by human ears. Angel chuckled obviously enjoying himself.

"There's nothing I miss about this century except for how everyone is so impeccably dressed."

Spike rolled his eyes. They left the shop and Buffy twirled down the street in her new gown watching the skirt flow gracefully above her ankles. Spike wasn't sure if she was enjoying the dress or just trying to look at her boots. Possibly both.

They let Buffy lead them to the side of town where she'd seen last Angelus. Angel was wary, keeping his eyes and ears peeled for any sign of his past self. Spike listened anxiously for those familiar sounds. Screaming, Drusilla's child-like laughter, the hum of Angelus's voice, and the voice of Darla which had always made his jaw clench as he attempted not to grind his teeth together. Buffy found the house they where she left them. Their scent was fresh, but they'd missed them by about an hour. Buffy groaned frustrated.

Familiar pain shot through her head. She moaned and pressed a hand to her forehead. "Buffy? What's wrong?" Angel asked. Spike wrapped his arms around her shoulders to support her.

_Angelus gave Darla a lustful kiss. "That was a wonderful present. I'll have to find some way to thank you." He said._

"_You can try." She said with a laugh._

_A white flash, and then, Angelus ran through the trees. He panted as he ran, getting tired. They were hunting him, trapping him. He had no where left to run._

"Buffy!" Spike shook her.

"Uh... I'm alright." She said softly. "It's nearly the time for angels. We have to hurry after the wolves before they're gone." She looked disturbed and deeply panicked.

"Alright. We'll find the wolves. It'll be alright," Spike tried to calm her.

"Are you kidding! We can't go chasing after them. They're dangerous, killers. I don't know what you're trying to achieve here, Buffy, but we can't let you near them."

"No! I have to see them dance."

"Shh, pet. It's alright." He turned to Angel. "We'll keep our distance. They won't even notice us. She only wants to watch."

"Fine, but we don't know what will happen if they see her or heaven forbid touch her. You'd better keep her on a tight leash."

"Come on, love. Let's go find those wolves."


	7. When In Romania

**AN: I feel like this got better as I wrote. Or maybe that's because I was more and more tired each time I open the file and wrote a bit more. ********Just so we're clear, the sleepier I got the bigger my words got and the worse my grammar became. If you notice anything major feel free to let me know. **Bad news my laptop is broken, good news; no more school for me because I HAVE GRADUATED! WOO! More time for fanfiction. That is whenever my mom lets me borrow her laptop/when I can steal it from her. Anyway, enjoy.

* * *

Buffy and Spike walked arm and arm with Angel skulking behind them. They followed the scent of the ones Buffy desperately sought. Spike kept trying to ask her what was so important that they see, but she refused to answer. Angel felt certain he'd already figured it out. She wanted them to remember what it's like to kill. To him it seemed a fruitless plan. They had souls and watching people die wouldn't change that. If anything his morality would rise so far to the surface that he'd feel compelled to help. _I''ll have to stay back from them. If I get too close, if there's screaming... it's an instinct really. I can't help but to save lives anymore._

The trail ended at the main route between this town and next. They must have had a carriage waiting for them. Angel tried to remember, but he couldn't recall this town or this road. He must have had other things on his mind at the time. Things that seemed so important then, but if Angel could remember them he thought it would probably make him feel sick.

"What now?" He asked the others. "They're long gone and we can't afford a cab of our own."

Buffy pouted and looked at Spike. He thought for a moment. "Maybe we can steal one. I'm sure some idiot will leave one lying around unattended sooner or later."

"There' no telling how long that will take."

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Yeah. We go home."

Buffy was about to stomp her foot and argue but Spike laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and said, "Listen." They all frozen and kept quiet. They could hear horses and a wagon coming up the road. "I've got a better plan. Follow me."

He led them a sort ways down the road, away from the town and into the woods where they wouldn't be seen. "Wait here a moment," he said handing Buffy his leather coat. Buffy and Angel turned to look as a simple wooden cart pulled by two horses came into view. It was fairly small but well-built by someone who knew how to work with their hands, but was without means to buy one. That much was clear from the pure simplicity of it.

Buffy looked for Spike who had walked away toward the road and out of the woods. She didn't see him at first, but when she did she was shocked for a moment. She curbed the instinct to run to help him. He was lying on the ground on his back. His hair was disheveled and muddy, his face was painted with dirt, and he'd torn his shirt at the sleeves and chest revealing small slits of alabaster skin to the pale moon light. His arms rested at odd angles as though he'd been dropped or fallen there.

The man driving the wagon saw the odd dark form lying the ground. At first it appeared to be a rock or a large tree branch. The light of his lantern fell over Spike's body and the man gasped. He pulled the horses to a halt and jumped down from the carriage. He ran to apparently injured man. Spike groaned putting on a show for the stranger.

"Come on," Angle whispered to Buffy. They moved soundlessly out of the trees and to the cart. Angel gestured to the back, but she didn't get in. She was watching the man hovering over Spike. Angel nudged her forward knowing they had little time before the man looked around for help and saw them.

"No," She whispered and walked toward the man. Angel grabbed her arm. "No!" she yelled. The man jumped to his feet and turned around.

"Oi! What-" The man started before Spike jumped to his feet and pressed a hand to his mouth.

Buffy looked at Angel. He could see the hunger in her eyes. Hell, he could feel it in himself. It was dinner time and Buffy was having no delays. Angel looked at Spike almost begging him to say something, do something, to stop him. Spike returned the look. Angel let go of Buffy's arm. She looked at Angel gratefully before facing the struggling and terrified man with hungry eyes. She walked slowly, predatory to the man. He didn't know what was coming, but still he begged with his eyes. The muffled sounds that came from his throat did the same.

She ran the tips of her fingers down the man's cheek in a comforting manner before she sunk her teeth into his throat. He screamed behind the hand that held him. Once Buffy'd had her fill, Spike dragged the body into the trees. It wouldn't be found until they were long gone. Angel held the door open for Buffy as she climbed inside the cart. He didn't allow her to see how truly disturbed he felt, but once he was out of sight, his face twisted in distress. Spike climbed into the cart with Buffy. His face was blank emotionless. He refused to look at Buffy and instead stared out the window into the forest.

Buffy couldn't help but feel she'd done something wrong. She'd only been hungry and after all, neither of them had truly protested. They wanted her to eat didn't they? They wouldn't just let her starve. She watched Spike's face silently begging him to look at her and explain their odd reactions, but he ignored her. He didn't look mad or upset, in fact Buffy thought he appeared to have no emotion at all. Of course she knew that wasn't true. She could feel something boiling inside him. A rage of several burning and conflicting emotions as if he couldn't be sure what to do. _All is well my shining knight. I will remind you what it is to feel as sweet death overwhelms ones own victim. It is glorious._

Angel drove the cart down the road, allowing his memories to guide him in the right direction. For about the 50th time he told himself _It's the only way Buffy will get us home. As soon as she's seen them she'll let us all go. _He didn't really believe it. If she was this desperate for a grand vampire family, she won't be happy when Angel says no, that he won't go dark. _What if it's too late? I'm already going dark. Her presence alone is enough to... I couldn't even say no._

Spike could feel her gaze burning into his skin. He wished she'd look away, doze off into fairyland or wherever she goes when she gets lost in her insane thoughts. _What does she want from me? I won't go back to what I was, I can't. Angel would kill us both. Is that really the only thing stopping me? Would I lose my soul for her? Just to make her happy..._

Sharp pain stabbed through Buffy's skull. She gasped and pressed a hand to her forehead. _She was somewhere else. Somewhere she'd never seen before. It was dark and there was screaming outside. In fact outside was complete chaos. She could smell the fire and the fear. William was there. He lurked behind a pillar. He looked excited. A young Chinese girl walked in through a door on the other side of the room. William sauntered out from his hiding place and addressed her. "Wasn't sure if you were going to show, pet." She pulled her sword from it's sheath. _

"Buffy!" Spike shouted. Her held her by her shoulder having caught her when she appeared to have nearly fainted. "Buffy what's wrong?"

"So _beautiful_," she whispered.

"Buffy... When did you start... You're psychic?" He started at her astounded. Angel stopped the cart and jumped down from his seat. Spike climbed out and Angel lead him a few feet away where they could talk more privately.

"She's psychic?" Angel shouted.

"Keep it down." Spike looked to toward the big wooden box where Buffy sat.

"Did you know about this?"

"Don't you think I would have told you? I'm just as surprised as you are."

"That's why she brought us here," Angel realized. "She saw Angelus and William."

"What you she think she's planning on running off with them?"

"I don't know. Maybe, but she keeps saying she wants to show us something."

"Do you think it's something specific? Because it's not like we weren't there. We _know _what we did. _We're _the ones that did it!"

Angel sighed. "What do you think she saw?"

"No idea."

"Well did she say anything?"

"She said it was beautiful. Just insane nonsense, there's really no telling what she was talking about." They both stared thoughtfully toward her. "It's not doing us any good sittin' around ponderin'. The girl's got a mission and we're not going home 'til she's satisfied one way or another. Where are we headed anyway?"

"Don't you remember? This is Budapest. We're not far from where I got my soul. The gypsy camp is another two villages over and then we headed toward China after hearing about the Rebellion."

Spike shook his head to clear it. "This is all so weird."

"Tell me about it. We need to head off so we can find shelter before sunrise." Angel went back to his spot at the front of the cart and Spike rejoined Buffy. Spike sighed. Here they were back in a world in which is takes days to get from town to town. No cars or motorbikes or planes. Just horses and your own two feet. _Brilliant._

* * *

They reached the next town after 7 long hours. Buffy had spent nearly the entire ride chatting with herself and Spike was getting a headache. He loved the girl but man did she have a set of lungs. Angel's back was stiff and he was looking forward to a long rest. He would give his right arm for a feather bed if it would do any good. They had no money for a room and there wasn't anyone worth robbing out at the late hour. They'd have to find something old and abandoned, if there was such a thing nearby.

It was dark and quiet. The streets were empty of more than a stray cat and what sounded a lot like several raccoon. Angel stopped the old wagon at a hitch in front of a closed inn and hopped down. He stretched like a cat and his body crackled and popped. He tied the horse's reigns to the post.

"Finally," Spike said and climbed out of the wagon. Buffy sat and hummed a song, wiggling her feet.

"Come on. We need to find somewhere to sleep."

"Straight down to business then. Alright." He offered Buffy a hand and she climbed out of the cart. They three walked through the small houses. Each one was locked up snug and full of people. No room for vampires. "Sun's gonna be up soon."

"Thanks for the update." Angel took another look around and was getting a bit anxious.

"The girl said good-bye," Buffy said suddenly.

"What?" Angel asked.

"He's gone now and she said good-bye. She'll be lonely on her own. Until the sky turns white."

"What girl?" Spike inquired.

"Amy." She pointed between a row of houses where a girl stood. She was looking down the road. According to Buffy, watching someone leave. Buffy walked to meet her. The boys shared a look before following.

"Hello," Buffy said to the girl.

She turned to face her surprised. "You speak English," She said with a thick Romanian accent. She shook her head. "My apologies. We don't get many from England anymore." She looked curiously at each of them.

"I'm Anne," Buffy told the girl.

She smiled. "My name is Amelia. Papa calls me Amy."

"My name's Liam," Angel said. He slipped into his old Irish brogue easily as pulling on his favorite leather coat.

"Will." Spike had never liked being called Will and had always preferred William, but if by chance she ran into his murderous counter-part he hopped the small difference would keep her from noticing the similarities. "It is nice to meet you, Amy."

"If you're not from around here, you would be looking for a place to stay. Did you find room at the inn?" She asked.

Angel spoke first. "They were closed for the eve'in. Won't be room 'til tomorrow."

"That's unfortunate. I believe I can help. My father left on business. If it's a room you need I have a spare. That is if the three of you don't mind sharing." The kind girl was oblivious to the misfortune that could have befallen her had she spoken to the wrong set of vampires.

"We haven't any money-" Angel began.

"I don't need money. I just want to help."

"That's very kind of you. We left the horse tethered by the inn."

"I can show you to my home before you go to retrieve it. It's not far." She led them back down the road only a few yards before approaching the door of a small, white two-story house with a small garden out back that could barely be seen from the side. There was a small porch. A lantern was glowing from where it sat on the rail. She took the lantern and opened the unlocked door before inviting them, unknowing of the invitation's necessity.

"Thank you," Angel said. "We'll just go and get our cart. Anne can wait her with you." The girl nodded and Spike let with Angel.

"Was it a good idea to leave Buffy alone with her?" Spike asked.

"If she wants to kill the girl... she would find a way of doing so anyway. She's getting awfully good at convincing us."

"Why is that? I mean I have a hard time telling the girl no but you... you just _let it happen._ You feelin' alright, Peaches?"

Angel sighed. "I don't know what's wrong with me. It's like I'm clinging to this hope that... if we wait long enough or we sort of trigger it, she'll remember who she is. She'll be Buffy again."

"She'll never be Buffy again. She's like us now."

"Like we used to be."

"If what happened tonight means anything, like we still are."

Spike's words triggered Angel's brood mode. He spent the rest of the brisk walk (and then ride) mentally punishing himself for his sudden lapse of morality. Even when Darla and Drusilla had returned to him he hadn't sunk this low. Buffy was dragging him down.

When they returned to Amy's house, there was a candle lit in the window. The glowing lantern was sitting somewhere inside. Angel tied the horse to the porch rail and patted it's head. It looked awfully tired, but Angel didn't dare let it loose. They would need it to make where ever they were headed if they wanted to make it in one piece rather than in ashes. Amy stepped outside and Angel felt relief cross his face.

"There's a small stable out back. She can rest there."

"She?" Angel looked at the horse. Was it a she?

The girl laughed. "You don't know your own horse is female? Does she even have a name?" She walked down the two porch steps to pat the brunette horse's head.

"Uh-"

"Fred," Spike said.

"Fred? Is that a man's name?"

"It was, uh, my sister's name," Spike said as he thought of sweet little Fred Burkle killed by that stupid smurf.

"Well I shall take Fred around back then." She untied the reigns from the post. "Your companion is abed. The poor child was exhausted. You'll find her inside, down the hall, last door on the left."

Angel went inside. "I'll accompany you if you don't mind," Spike said. Amy gave him a sweet smile and they walked around back.

"So if you don't mind my asking, what happened to Fred. Your sister."

"Well, she was... she was trying to help me and Liam. And it got her killed. She was only trying to help. I- We, there was nothing we could do. She got sick."

Amy seemed to understand. "That's what happened to my mother," She said sadly. "She got sick and then one day she couldn't get out of bed..."

The put the horse in the stable and left the wagon nearby. They didn't talk as they walked back to the house. They were lost in the memories of the ones they'd lost. But before they stepped inside Amy said, "That's the worst part though. You cannot help them. Some one you love is sick and there is nothing you can do. You can watch or can turn your head, but you cannot fight a sickness." Spike felt that truer words had never been spoken.

* * *

Amelia didn't bother them while they slept. She thought of waking them for breakfast, but she thought of how tired Anne had looked when she'd shown her to extra room and she decided not to. She feed their horse and gave it water. Fred seemed to really like her so she spent a bit stroking her mane and singing her a song that her mother used to sing to her. Her guests didn't rise until sunset. Tired from a long journey she assumed. They set out at once after thanking her for her kindness. She couldn't even convince them to eat with her first. _How very odd those strangers are_, she thought.

"She's right though," Spike said as they prepared to set out. "We haven't eaten. It's starting to show. Look at my skin." It was true. His skin was becoming translucent and his eyes were slightly red. Angel was no different. It would be noticeable soon and people would think they had the plague. Angel of course was prepared. No one would notice if three pigs went missing. Not until they were long gone. Assuming Buffy didn't put up too much fuss about drinking pig's blood. Of course if they dead pig bodies were found in the woods... well most likely they would blame the nearby gypsy camp and pray that they hadn't been cursed.


	8. Into the Woods

After three days of traveling, stealing pigs, and robbing locals for _just _enough to get a room for the day they finally found Angelus and the others. It was nearly too late. Buffy peered around a tent and watched as a young blonde woman snuck across the path. She slipped unseen (by anyone other than Buffy) into a larger more extravagant tent. There was a small squeal. Then, Darla left the tent, hidden by the towering trees, with a small girl in her arms.

* * *

The night had just begun. Angel had been certain that Angelus was in this town at this exact time. He wouldn't say how he knew. After the group had set out, Spike confirmed this by saying he could smell Darla's sleazy French perfume over top all of the scum. Most of the people here only spoke Romanian, which left it Angel to do the dealings. He thought it would be best if they bought their food for a change. In the crowded street it simple to snag a purse off a passing business man. They visited the nearest butchers shop and Angel argued rather aggressively with the butcher over the price. The shouting made Buffy a bit uncomfortable, but when it was done he seemed to have earned the Romanian man's respect. They went back to their inn room to drink their blood in privacy.

"No! Are you trying to poison me?" Buffy shouted.

"Buffy, shh. Calm down," Angel tried to reason.

"Buffy it's blood. Just blood no poison, see?" Spike said and took a gulp of his own portion.

"_No._ It's cold and slimy and it smells like garbage." She wrinkled her nose at the offensive fluid that Angel offered her.

"Buffy we are **not **doing this now. Drink the damn blood-"

There was a knock at the door. "E totul în regulă?"1 A man called from the other side of the old, molded barrier.

"Totul este bine. Lasă-ne,"2 Angel called back. The man went away.

"Buffy, you're not getting anything else. You can drink the blood or you can starve."

"Angel. Buffy, he doesn't mean that-"

"Yes I do. She's not killing-"

"Of course not! But she has to eat." Spike looked at Buffy. "Slay- Buffy. You have to eat." He said trying to calmly reason with her.

Buffy stared at the floor. She hadn't meant to upset Angel. She just didn't like animal blood and to top it off it was room temperature. With a sigh she took the tanned leather sack of blood that smelt like goat from Angel. She refrained from gagging as she swallowed the unpleasant substance.

Angel gulped down his own and hoped the others didn't notice when he made a face. He wasn't any happier about cold goat blood either, but leaving a trail of dead pigs was dangerous business. Spike didn't bother to hide his displeasure.

They tossed the raw meat out of the window. It was eaten by stray dogs.

They set out to find Buffy's wolves. Angel knew they didn't have much time. Soon, everything that was Angelus would be taken over by something pathetic and repentant. Buffy would be disappointed. He didn't want that. He wouldn't allow himself to think about why.

Angel followed his memory more than the scent of French perfume and dried human blood. He remembered walking down this street. He even remembered passing a few of these people. He recognized a man he'd growled at after the drunk had tripped and fallen over onto Drusilla nearly knocking them both to the ground. He saw a whore who Darla had nearly killed right there on the street after she'd tried to talk Angelus into her bed. Angelus and William had both laughed earning Angelus a smack and William a sharp glare. Angel noticed the girl looked a bit riled as he passed by.

"They're not far," Angel said.

"Yeah. I remember. The grand estate party. Invitation only. Too bad we don't have one," Spike said his voice grim.

"We didn't then either."

"Ah." They shared a look. "Costel Moldoveanu"

"And his wife Adela."

"We killed them. You and Darla took their names. Me and Dru passed as your cousins."

"There they are now." Angel nodded toward a couple headed in the same direction. A tall dark haired man walked with a younger lighter-haired woman. As they watched, the couple was approached by none other than Angelus and Darla. William and Drusilla were right behind them. The six shared a laugh, though Spike knew William was faking it. He didn't speak Romanian. The Romanians followed them trustingly into the dark side street.

Buffy ran to get a look. "Buffy wait," Spike hissed as he and Angel ran after her.

They grabbed her and pulled her back before she could run right up to them. Drusilla turned to look, but they pulled Buffy out of sight just in time. She pouted a bit, but seemed to get that she should be quiet and she didn't make a sound.

The shop at the corner of the two streets was empty. Spike kicked the door in and pulled Buffy in behind him. They had a perfect view from the shop window. Angelus held the terrified woman tightly in his arms. William held the man. They made him watch as Angelus tore into the screaming woman's throat. The man screamed and fought to save his wife, but she was dead in an instant. Drusilla bounced delightedly and Darla smiled proudly. William killed the man after Angelus dropped his dead wife's body to the ground. The stashed the bodies behind some old crates. They wouldn't stay long enough to get caught.

Angel felt sick. His eyes were wide as he stared into the space that once contained his younger self. Spike was silent. He felt a bit dizzy. Buffy looked excitedly at them both, but her face fell when she saw their reactions. She was confused. They still didn't understand. Even after all her hard work.

"I don't understand," She said looking at each of them in turn. "Weren't they beautiful? Didn't you see them?"

"Yeah pet. We saw," Spike said sadly. "Wish we hadn't."

"But..." Buffy sighed and sat on the dusty old floor. The three of them sat in silence for a long while. "Why?" Buffy asked them.

"We aren't like that anymore, Buffy. We don't kill people," Spike tried to explain.

Buffy stood up feeling frustrated. She looked at Angel who had practically turned to stone. She fled the dusty old room and ran off down the street. They couldn't understand, she could see that now. They weren't the same. They weren't like her. Neither of them noticed her absence. They were too caught up in their troubled minds.

She left them behind. She didn't want to stop. It was as if she was looking for something, but she didn't know what and she didn't know where to find it. So she continued on. Down the street, past the crowd that filed into a large ornate house, and beyond the edge of the small town. She walked through the darkened forest, along the dirt path.

After a long while (Buffy wasn't sure how long, but had she been human, she knew that she feet would be hurting), a carriage drove past her. A second nearly ran her down not long after. Buffy could see a camp not far in the distance. About twenty tents and just as many covered wagons.

When she reached the camp, most of its inhabitants were asleep. All of them were inside. She was careful not to allow the low burning fires to cast her shadow on any of the tents. She spotted a woman ahead of her and ducked behind the closest tent. The woman silently entered a large tent. Buffy heard a surprised squeal followed by a thump. She could see Darla's face alight with excitement as she carried the unconscious girl in her arms. Darla set the girl inside a carriage before joining her. The carriage took them away, back to the town.

Buffy found the other carriage she'd seen earlier. The driver was about to take off when she stepped in front of the twin horses.

"Dă-te din drum!" The man shouted at her.

"Ce se întâmplă?3" Another man called from inside.

Buffy had a clever idea. She stared deep into the man's eye's. He grew frustrated, then confused. She concentrated, pouring her will into him. She'd heard Drusilla could do it, but she was never psychic other than the visions all slayers recieved and she wasn't a slayer anymore. But maybe it was a vampire power. Maybe Buffy could do it too.

The man stepped out from inside the coach and froze when he spotted Buffy. She walked to him. He looked confused at the driver who sat unmoving on his seat. Buffy grabbed the man's head and pulled it to the side. She bit into his throat and bled him dry. She dropped the lifeless body to the ground as pain grew in her head.

_An old gypsy woman spoke in an ancient language, casting a spell over an orb. The orb glowed at her words and filed with swirling golden light. In the woods, Angelus ran. He'd been running so long and he knew he couldn't stop. The angry gypsies chanced after him. They were forcing to their camp. Angelus was more afraid than he'd ever been since becoming a vampire._

Buffy's eyes were wide and frightened. She left the dazed driver at his post and walked back into the camp. She would kill the elder gypsy woman before Angel could ever be created.

* * *

Angel slowly came out of his soul-induced coma. He immediately noticed Buffy was missing. "Spike?"

"Yeah?" The somber voice replied.

"Where's Buffy?"

They looked around the room. Her scent had faded. She'd been gone for some time. The boys sprung to their feet. "Buffy!" Spike shouted.

They ran from the room and out to the street. Angel caught her scent and they ran after her. They reached the edge of town.

"Where is she going?" Angel wondered.

"It looks like nothing but dark wood for miles," Spike said.

Angel's eye grew wide. "The gypsy camp." Spike looked mortified. If she got into trouble down there, those gypsies had very powerful magic. At the very least they'd kill her. The pair ran down the long dirt road. They hadn't gotten far when a carriage came down the road and they had to move into the woods to keep out of sight. They the rest of the way under the cover of the trees. Occasionally one of them would step back onto the road to be certain Buffy hadn't doubled back.

They reached the camp just as a coach was leaving. They followed Buffy's scent and found themselves looking a man who sat unmoving and unblinking into the forest. He seemed to be hypnotized or under a spell. Spike had seen that look before.

"Drusilla? She... Dru, she could do that, but not now. It took practice and time. She didn't figure it out for decades."

"Drusilla hasn't been here. This was Buffy."

"How could she..."

"We'll ask questions later. Look." Angel pointed down the row of tents. Buffy was walking down the row, searching for something.

"Angel." Spike spotted a man headed in Buffy's direction. He hadn't seen her yet. He ran and grabbed Buffy around the waist, covering her mouth and pulling her behind a tent until the man passed them by. She slipped away from him and almost got away, but he pulled her back. "Buffy, what are you thinking?"

"Let me go Spike!" She punched him in the jaw and ran for it. This time Angel caught her. "Stop it! I have to go. Let me go!"

"Quiet, you're going to get us all caught."

"No!"

"Angel. Do something." Spike looked around nervously. Angel was trying a hand pressed over Buffy's mouth but he couldn't hold her and keep her somewhat quiet.

"Don't you think I'm trying? _You _do something."

"What do you want me to do, knock her unconscious?"

"Ya know," He grunted as Buffy dug her teeth into his arm. "That's really not a bad idea."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Buffy knock it off, we don't have time for this."

"Yeah that's helping."

"This is ridiculous." Spike grabbed the girl away from Angel and put her over his shoulder.

"Hey! Stop it! I have to-"

"Oh, shut up would you."

Buffy sighed, and pouted, but otherwise stopped making noise.

* * *

When they made it back to the town, Buffy started struggling again. Angel decided it _really __was _a good idea to knock her out. So he had Spike do it.

"Stupid git. Can't knock a girl out on your own."

"It was your idea."

Spike set her down on their bed back at the inn having payed for another day. "What do we do now?"

"I'm not sure. I mean she got what she wanted right? She should be taking us home."

"Yeah but I get the feeling she has other plans. She was on a _mission _back there. She's not finished yet."

Angel sighed. "I think you're right."

"Well... I don't know about you, but I could go for a drink."

"We shouldn't leave her alone. She could run off again. I'll stay here."

"Suit yourself, mate." He left and made his way to the bar.

Angel watched Buffy sleep. Her hair was tangled, her dress was dirty, and there was blood on her left hand. It hurt him seeing her like this. He reached over and carefully untied her gown and pulled it off of her. It was so torn and ruined. It was hardly a good costume anymore. Next to him and Spike she would have looked like a whore and he could stand people looking at her like that. She still had Drusilla's old dress on underneath. It was pristine, but not exactly the right time period. Not that it would matter. He'd make sure Buffy's got them home as soon as possible. He wished he has a brush to take care of her hair. He lie down next to her and though back to when she was warm and tan. A smile crossed his face as he drifted to sleep.

1Is everything alright?

2All is well. Leave us.

3Get out of the way!

What's going on?


	9. Helping Hands

**AN: Violence of the domestic and vampiric kind ahead. You have been warned.**

* * *

The little blonde noticed none of the looks she received as she walked softly across the bar room in the front of the inn. She saw Spike sitting at a stool in the front. His leather jacket drew attention, but not enough to cause him any trouble. Unless of course the pretty brunette across the room finally tired of eye-balling him and left her date to do something about it. Buffy briefly considered doing something about it herself before shaking her head and moving on.

She escaped unnoticed by her leather-clad companion in to the steadily warming night. She hurried done the street, looking for a hiding place or some form of escape. Buffy hadn't been careful to think it through, her only thought coherent thought being, "I must run with the wolves. Mustn't let them catch the sunshine." She hadn't made it far when she was caught up by the unexpected pain in her brain. The young vampire moaned, clutching the sides of her head. The image of Spike with the young Chinese slayer flashed through her mind. Her stomach growled at the sight of warm blood on his lips.

When she opened her eyes, she was on her knees. Hands pressed lightly on her shoulders and warm breath caressed her face.

"Madame? Do you speak English? Français peut-etre?" A man with a French accent asked her. His eyes were blue. His hair was brown, and Buffy knew he was just the help she needed.

"Like looking at the sky," She whispered.

"English then. Are you alright? Are you well?" He asked, concern written across his features.

"I- please. They-"She tried to calm the chaos in her head to offer the kind man an explanation, but it couldn't be done. "The wolves. I have to…" She shook her head in frustration.

"Wolves? Do you mean… did someone hurt you?"

It wasn't what she'd been trying to say, but it would have to do. She nodded feigning weakness. She panicked as she felt faint sunlight, undetectable to the Frenchman, on her back.

"Please, it hurts," She whined.

"Come with me, chéri. Step inside."

Buffy let the stranger lead her away. She sighed with relief one they were behind closed doors. The man assumed she was relieved to be hidden from her assailants.

"Gregory, who is your friend?" A man who sat in the kitchen asked. A Romanian woman sat at the dining table. She had long brown hair that hung in her eyes. She kept her face turned down. If Buffy could see her eyes, she knew they would be wary and fearful. She could feel the emotion rolling off of her skin.

"She's no one, Uncle. She is in need of rest. I didn't think you would mind." The man, Gregory, said as he placed his coat on a hook by the door.

"Decidedly not. The child can rest, but don't think I will cater to any strays you desire to bring into my home. You are a guest in this house nephew," The other said sharply.

Buffy looked at man and found what she saw disturbing. The air around him was hot and thick like road tar in the summer. "Slash and pound. Afraid to lose control, lose the power. Needs the fear," She muttered, surprising herself.

"What did she say?" He shouted. The woman whimpered.

"Nothing. She's tired. Come now, cheri," He led Buffy down the hall to that right. "We'll be on our way after she's rested," He called back to his uncle who grumbled in response.

They passed a wash-room on the left and went into the second and final room. There were two small candles lit on a table and a low bed with a tan blanket. There was one small window covered in heavy blue drapes. The closet hung open, but was entirely empty.

"You can rest here. You'll be safe."

Buffy sat down on the bed. It was a lot better than the cots that she'd gotten used to even if the blanket _was _a bit scratchy. She smiled, pleased. "Thank you."

"You're most welcome, cheri." He blew out each of the candles and left her alone.

She pushed off her shoes and climbed into the borrowed bed. The pillow smelt faintly of a young woman, unfamiliar to Buffy. Her scent was similar to that of Gregory's uncle. She drifted softly to sleep.

_Sarah Bonnet helped her mother set the table for the evening meal. She knew is she didn't set is properly, her father would be angry. Sometimes when he was angry he threw things. Sometimes he hit her. Sometimes he hit her mother. She didn't want that. So she did her best to please him, though he never said thank you or even acknowledged her good work._

_But her work wasn't good enough this time. She saw he father clench his teeth and turn to face her, but her mother had stepped in the way. "She's just a child," She tried to defend her. He struck her and split her lip in doing so. Sarah had cried, twisting her fingers in her long brown hair. Ames Bonnet was known for abusing his wives. Buffy stood by as unnoticed as the pink fleur de li hair pin that fell from Camille Bonnet's hair and onto the floor._

_After killing his second wife in his rage, Ames fled France with his daughter to find a place where such things would go unnoticed._

When Buffy woke, the sun was low. Her dreams of young Sarah Bonnet disturbed her. She'd felt the girls pain.

Gregory was nowhere to be seen, but she could hear someone moving around in the washroom. She slipped on her shoes and followed the sound. The woman was filling the tub with cool water from the tap.

She turned and spotted Buffy just inside the door and let out a surprised gasp. "I did not see you," She said with a hand pressed to her chest. "Did you need something?"

Buffy walked closer to the center of the room, taking in the deep wash tub, the shelf of handmade soaps and cloths, and the dim light given off by the two lanterns. "I'm Buffy. You must be the third."

"I-I am Stela," She said, startled by Buffy's odd presumption. "Is there something you want?" The woman was growing fearful as Buffy moved closer.

"I can help you." She said as she moved close enough to touch the woman. "The poor girl never had a chance." She reached out and stroked the shaking woman's neck. "Nothing to fear anymore."

* * *

Buffy washed her bloody hands in the water Stela had prepared, turning it pink. She walked back out into the hall.

"Ah, there you are, chéri,"Gregory said, leaving the bedroom where he'd been looking for her. "You are feeling better, I see. I don't believe I had the chance to introduce myself last night. I am Gregory Bonnet," He offered his hand. Buffy took it and he kissed the back of her hand politely.

"I'm Buffy Summers."

"Well, Mademoiselle Summers, I'll be leaving for my journey to China soon. Is there anywhere I can take? Do you have family nearby?"

"China?" Buffy asked getting excited.

"Yes, I am a tradesman. I have silks and porcelain that must get to China immediately. There's been talk of a rebellion and I'd like to be well out of the way when it happens.

"I have family there. In fact I wouldn't mind making the trip with, if you'll have me."

"Why chéri, that is the best news I have heard all day," He said with a smile. "I have a few things to pack before we head out. You should eat before we go. My aunt Stela left supper for you."

Gregory left Buffy to hunt down her dinner. He stepped outside into the dimming sunlight. Buffy went to the kitchen. There was fresh bread and venison cooling on the table. At the head of the table sat the monster of her recent nightmares, Ames Bonnet.

* * *

"I thought the point of staying here was so you could watch her! Instead you're here napping on the job," Spike said irritated. He noticed the pile of rich blue fabric. "Is that… Did you…"

Angel's eyes followed Spike's. "What? No, of course not!"

"You shared the bed," Spike pointed out, clearly jealous.

"No we were sleeping."

"Oh, so that's what happened then. She gave you the fake-out and then snuck off while you were snoozing. Not only that, but she's out there in the tiny little dress. That's just begging for some low-life to snatch her up."

Angel paced across the room. His thoughts were already trying to put together where Buffy would have gone, completely oblivious to Spike's ranting.

"We need to get moving, the sun's set," Spike said, snapping Angel out of his thoughts.

"Her scent is probably long gone. Washed away by the filth in this town. She would have caught a ride anyway."

"Well we can't just sit here and brood the night away, can we?"

Angel rolled his eyes and they headed out. They caught faith traces of Buffy's scent scattered here and there along the road. It was like she'd walked in a zigzag as if she were very drunk. As Angel began to give up hope on catching her scent and Spike became so frustrated he had to control himself from slipping into gameface, Spike spotted something on the ground. A small white pearl. Due to its size, he wouldn't have noticed it if it hadn't been laying on flat ground and rolled under his boot as he stepped down.

"Angel," He said, getting the older vampire's attention. He showed him his finding.

"At least we know for certain she came this way," He said. "We still have no idea where she is."

Spike tossed the pearl down where it rolled under a salesman's cart. The man standing next to it insisted to a man passing by that his ancient remedy could cure the man's bad back. The man's appearance caught Spike's attention. He was dressed as though Chinese, but clearly he was Romanian.

"Angel. What year does this look like to you?"

He looked around. "1897, 98, somewhere around then. Why?"

Spike met Angel's eyes as he pieced it together. "The rebellion! In China!" Several people stared at him curiously. He lowered his voice. "The Boxer Rebellion. The slayer I offed..."

"You think Buffy is going to China?"

"It's the best guess we've got and we're not finding her here. There's nothing left to track."

"She would certainly be able to find Angelus there. Only with a soul."

"But there's still Spike and Drusilla," Spike pointed out.

"Yeah, she never really cared about William."

"Yes she did! That was her whole purpose."

"Oh, yeah right! Like she'd go after pathetic little William," Angel taunted.

"I was never pathetic, I was young!" Spike shouted. "She never wanted Angelus in the first place. He's all boring and- and he's a prat!"

Angel growled. "I-"

"Gentleman!" A strange voice interrupted. "If you would please," they turned to look at the new comer. It was a young gypsy woman. Her dark hair was tied up with multicolored ribbons and her skirts were uncommonly clean. Her eye shown with wisdom that was untrue to her age. "Come with me." She gestured to a building behind her. "I think I can help you."

Angel turned to look at Spike who shrugged. "Come inside," She said with a knowing look.

"We don't need any help, thank you," Angel said suspiciously.

"Oh, but you do." She stepped closer to them and lowered her voice. "The girl will reach the slayer before you can stop her if you do not come quickly." She turned and went inside leaving them to follow.

"Well, looks like the bird has a solution," Spike said moving to follow.

Angel threw his arm out to stop him. "Wait. She's a gypsy. It could be a trap."

"Yeah, right." He stopped. Then he shrugged. "Only one way to find out. It's not like we haven't got souls already." He pushed past Angel and went inside. Angel took a deep breath and then he followed.


	10. All Roads Lead Here

Ames sat back in his chair feeling content after finishing his meal. Buffy approached the table and stop next to it to stare at the man. He looked at her annoyed by her staring. She tilted her head to one side.

"Don't you have something to be doing?" Ames asked irritated.

"Pretty maids in a row. You keep them in line don't you? A row of corpses," Buffy said.

The man jumped in his seat. Buffy could hear his heart pounding. "What are you going on about?" Ames asked.

"Hands stained red," She growled. "Cursed with death." She could almost feel the man's blood run cold. He stood up from his chair and backed away with wide eyes. She stalked forward trapping him between herself and the wall. His eyes flicked toward the hall to his right. Buffy reached toward him and he ran down the hall and into his own bedroom. He looked the door and tried to find something to barricade it with but there was nothing.

The locked door was no match for the vampire and she kicked it down easily. A scream broke free of Ames's throat. "Pl-please. It was an accident. I never meant to harm anyone!"

Buffy shook her head disbelieving. "Wasn't just one was it? Can never stop at one. Belle, Camille, Sarah. You broke them all. The sunshine doesn't like such nasty vermin. Someone should punish the rat. The Angel isn't here to avenge them." Buffy paused looking thoughtful. "But the sunshine can burn all the same."

She shifted into her true face and Ames nearly fainted from the shock. She grabbed him and pulled him to her as he whimpered and cried. His blood was pumped full of adrenaline. It did nothing to mask the taste of filth on the vampire's tongue.

Buffy left the body to rot and sat down at the dining table just as Gregory returned. "Are you alright, cheri? I heard banging," He asked concerned.

"I'm fine."

"Good," he looked relieved. "My uncle can have a bit of a temper. Have you eaten enough?"

"Yes and I'm ready to head out now," she said politely.

"As am I. Just as soon as I bid farewell to my family. Where did uncle Ames run off to?"

Buffy panicked for a second before regaining composure and saying. "He retired early."

Gregory nodded. "I thought he might. He was looking a bit drained earlier this evening. Stela as well?" Buffy nodded. "Well then I believe it is time we set out. We have a long way to go."

* * *

The pair left the old Romanian town behind them. As to the blood on his companions hands, Gregory was none the wiser.

Inside the gypsy's home Spike sat comfortably across the table from the woman. Angel leaned against the door frame, ready to make a break for it. Not that he would admit he planned to run from the small woman.

"I know who you are. I have seen where you come from. A strange time that I will not pretend to understand. There is no time to discus it. I have seen the girl. The one that you arrived with. Yes I have been watching you," she said to Angel's distrusting look. "Your presence here is unnatural. Many of us could feel the disturbance in time itself. We have seen what is to come."

"What do you mean 'we', Spike asked.

"My sisters and myself." two younger girls came hesitantly into the room from the door on Spike's left. They sat at the table looking down shyly. "We see what is meant to be and what is soon to be. The blonde girl, Buffy-"

"She is going to alter the effects of time!" the youngest said suddenly looking with excited eyes toward Spike. Her older sisters looking annoyed at her.

"What is it she's gonna do, pet?" Spike asked her.

The girl blushed at the pet name. "She's... the vampire slayer..." the girl mumbled suddenly shy again. Angel looked at her confused. Buffy _was _the slayer. Past tense. She's dead now, so what is that tiny gypsy going on about?

The final sister nodded in agreement. "She will rewrite history as it is known."

Then the first sister said,"Unless you can stop her."

"She's going to kill the Chinese slayer, isn't she?" Spike asked. The three nodded solemnly confirming his theory. He turned at looked at Angel, his face a combination of "I knew it" and "Bloody hell!"

"She's has several hours head start on us. What do you expect us to do while you're holding us up here?" Angel asked impatiently.

"There is a ritual," said the oldest sister.

"We can transport you to the very time and place that Buffy will find the slayer," said the middle sister.

"And you can save her!" the youngest said, again excited.

"It must all be restored to its proper pattern," the oldest said with a knowing look directed at Spike. The young slayer would die either way, but it wasn't meant to be job. It was Spike's. A younger more murderous Spike.

"Great," Angel said clapping his hands together. "Let's get this show on the road then. We're losing moon light."

* * *

The journey was long and tiresome. Buffy wished more than anything to be in a car. Several times she told Gregory so. He laughed at her "enchanting" stories of metal carriages that drive themselves. He grew to adore the small broken girl. He found her ranting to be a comfort on the silent forest roads. They saw little traffic as they went and Gregory worried that they would find China in ruins by the time they reached it.

Finally they reached their destination and all of Gregory's fears were realized. There were fires burning in every building. The streets were lined with bodies and overturned carts. Some of the roads were blocked off by the debris that had piled up. The main city gate was missing whole boards. It appeared at one point someones had tried to close the city and off and someone else had responded with a battering ram. Gregory parked his cart on the side of the road and jumped down. He helped Buffy down.

Gregory watched the city burn feeling confused and disoriented. Buffy felt nothing but hungry. Her mission ran chaotically through her mind. Find the girl. Find Spike. Run with wolves. Dance with real beasts. The purest of monsters. She wasted no more time. Her face shifted and twisted. The sound of bone morphing and grinding together drew Gregory's attention and he nearly fainted at the sight of Buffy's true face.

Of course, she wouldn't want to be rude. "Thank you, Gregory. I wouldn't have made it without you," she said sweetly through rows of fangs. She tore into his neck. His screams went unnoticed as the fires raged on. Once Buffy had fed enough to keep herself from distraction, she headed into the city. The air was full of the stench of death, fear, and smoke. As she recognized her path she grew in confidence. She strutted along the road and found the right building and then the right room. Neither Spike nor the slayer would see her from where she hid behind a pillar.

It wasn't long before the young girl strode into the room. She had coming looking for supplies to help the injured. Slayer or no, she was not permitted to fight and so she helped however she could. Her watcher said that was a good sign that she would grow into a strong slayer who would do her country proud. She smiled proudly at the thought.

Spike stalked her from the opposite hall. Her steps were light but the building was symmetrical and he could tell where she was on the matching opposite side. He peered into the room and Buffy almost gave herself away with an excited gasp. Both Spike and the slayer were too wrapped up in their tasks to notice her presence and things played out the way they were always meant to. Spike strode into the room and the pair immediately sized each other up. Spike licked his lips and Buffy suddenly wondered what slayer's blood would taste like. He taunted and bragged and teased the slayer but if she understood him she didn't respond. The two found themselves wedged between two columns. A large explosion went off to Spike's right and the building shook dislodging debris. A large beam above Buffy's head fell and she jumped and she jumped and rolled out of the way just before it smacked into her head.

She found herself about 4 feet from Spike's boots as he twisted the slayer's arm around and broke it before pulling it behind her back. He noticed the hungry look in the strange new vampire's eyes. "Wait your turn pet," he told her. Buffy intended to rip the slayer from his arms when she was distracted by a sudden rush of mystical energy. Someone had cast a pretty powerful spell and she had a feeling Angel was involved. Spike didn't notice it and went about biting victoriously into the slayer's neck.

Buffy watched from where she knelt at . The girl spoke before she lost consciousness. "Want a taste then love?" he asked Buffy. She nodded and stood. The sound of feet thudding against the floor echoed from down the hall. Buffy ignored it and took the throat that was offered to her. Spike walked away from her to greet Drusilla. Buffy lost herself in the slayer's blood. It was so pure; pure love, strength, power. She had never tasted anything so intoxicating.

The persons attached to those loud running feet finally found her. Angel skidded into the room and saw the mess in Buffy's arms. "Buffy. What have you done?" He asked. Spike was right behind Angel. The sight of the dead slayer brought back that blissful memory of violence, blood, and sex.

Buffy dropped the cooling body to the ground and smiled. She'd made quite a bloody mess on her face around her red stained lips. She closed her eyes swaying in a calm and rhythmic pattern. Angel looked nervously at the entangled couple that had slid onto the floor. They were too wrapped in each other to notice anything else. _Good_. Angel thought unsure of how to deal with that sort of paradox.

"Buffy," he said. "It's time to go home." She didn't acknowledge him. She was busy humming song that Angel thought sounded like the one Joyce used to hum while she cooked. Spike was busy watching his previous self get all tangled up with his previous girl friend. "Buffy," Angel tried again.

He walked toward her careful to step around the small pool of blood that the others hadn't bothered to gulp down in their excitement. Gently, he grabbed her right arm. Her eyes blinked open and she looked up at him lazily.

"The angels come at last," she said with a laugh. Angel's blood lust roared to life from the smell of blood on her breath. Not just any blood of course, but slayer's blood. Angel still remembered what Buffy's was like. He shivered.

"We're going home now," he growled clenching his teeth. He just wanted to be back in his office nursing a warm mug of pigs blood with a hint of otter. Spike finally snapped out his daze to join them.

"Come on, pet. I could kill for a shower." There was another large explosion and the ceiling cracked, preparing to cave in. Buffy was still lost in a trance. "Uh, Buffy..."

Angel grabbed her and she squealed. Past Spike and past Dru disentangled themselves and ran off laughing and chatting excitedly. Current Spike followed Angel as he pulled Buffy outside. The building collapsed behind them.

"You've had you're fun Buffy. It's time to go," Angel said.

"Time. Time," She giggled. "Who's got the time? Oh, yeah." She snapped out of her trance. "I do." She pulled the amulet out from inside her dress. "Who needs wolves when you can become a lioness?" She sighed. She took Spike's hand and she closed her eyes. Same as before, in a flash they were gone.

As Spike and Drusilla walked arm and arm through the chaos Dru watched the whole thing in her mind. "The Angel left with the sunshine. But he didn't leave poor Princess. Princess has an Angel of her own, but sunshine has a way of making trouble. I won't forget."


	11. Good As Dust

The city was quiet with the soft sounds of the night people finally going to sleep whether willingly or due to intoxication. The day people slapped their alarm clocks and requested "five more minutes" to the emptiness of their bedrooms. The sun threatened to rise above the horizon and any vampire in their right mind was now tucked in their bed or safely behind the sun filtering glass of Wolfram & Hart. Buffy however, was not in her right mind and therefore sat on the ground leaning against Angel's car waiting patiently for her favorite boys to wake up. She sang to them as they slept. Spike lay on face with his right arm twisted awkwardly underneath him. Angel was on his back his face covered in the dust that had been kicked up by their sudden appearance.

Buffy noticed Spike's hair was starting to turn brown at the roots and had grown considerably longer. It was endearingly messy and Buffy crawled over to him to run her fingers through it. He was right. A shower was definitely the first thing any of them needed. Her fingers in her hair loosed a month's worth of dirt and grime. The blond was darker from it and the more Buffy played with it the more of the white color came back. She made a game of trying to restore what of left of the blonde to its proper color. She thought of William's long brown hair. It was quite beautiful and she wondered if Spike would let it grow back out if she asked.

Spike woke gently to find soft and comforting fingers tangled in his hair. "Buffy," he said. "What happened?" He rolled over and stretched cat-like. Her bright eyes shined down at him and couldn't help but smile. He noticed the building surrounding them and Angel's car parked to his right. "Home sweet home. Bloody hell, love!" He jumped to his feet. "The sun's gonna be up any minute. Why didn't you wake us?"

He walked over to Angel and kicked him in the side. The vampire grunted and woke up. "What?" he grumbled irritated. His blinked open and instinctively noted the brightening sky over head. "Dammit!" He was on his feet in no time.

Spike helped Buffy to her feet and they all climbed in the car. Angel patted his pockets. "Uh, Angel? You gonna start her up or is this another suicide attempt?"

"Shut up, Spike. I'm working on it. Where the hell are the keys?" He searched all his pockets and under the seat. "Do you have them?"

"Why would I?" Spike checked his own pockets. "You did take them out of your jeans before you ditched them didn't you?"

"Of course I di- We may have a problem."

"Bollocks," Spike growled.

"Check the dash. There should be a cell phone." Spike did and there was. He handed it over. Angel dialed a number and Spike watched the sky nervously.

"Yeah, it's Angel. I need a car sent to this location immediately." A short pause and then, "No I don't care about the ambassador. This is an emergency. You heard me Harmony get a car here." Spike could hear Harmony talking frantically on the other end. "Use the GPS!" He hung up on her. "Ten minutes tops."

"We should find somewhere shady before we get roasted." Taking Spike's advice, the trio climbed out of the car and looked around. Their options were: a dumpster, risk someone living in one of the surrounding abandoned buildings and break a window, or underneath the car. Buffy was all for getting cozy under car while Angel thought the dumpster while unappealing would be safest. Spike thought smashing a few windows until the found one without the vampire keep-put security system intact. They moved at once. Buffy slithered under the car. Angel went to the dumpster. Spike kicked in the nearest basement window.

"Spike! What are you doing? If someone calls the police we're as good as dust."

"Pixie dust?" Buffy asked.

"Relax. You're people will be here any minute. We just need to sit tight."

"Right, in the dumpster. Come on."

"I'm not gettin' in that thing and comin' out covered in banana peels and a like."

"You couldn't possibly smell worse than you already do."

"It's quite cozy down below," Buffy called from under the car.

"No thanks. I'll take my chances with the cops." Spike went to the next window. The building was empty and Spike was able to shimmy his slender body right in the basement window even if he did tear his clothes on the broken glass."You comin'?" he called to the others.

Buffy climbed hurriedly from her hiding place. "I lied. It smells like motor oil." She followed Spike. Angel sighed and did the same having only slightly more trouble with his broad shoulders.

"Put on a bit of weight there, peaches?" Spike taunted.

"Shut up."

"Great come back. Never heard that one before. God I could use a smoke." He sat down on an old crate.

Buffy wrinkled her nose as though remembering the smell. "Death sticks."

"I don't think it matters much if you're already dead, pet."

Angel sat next to Spike on the crate which appeared to be the only thing in the dark and dusty space. The light from the rising sun came in through the broken window but the bright rays of light didn't make it very far before they were consumed by shadows. Buffy drew patterns on the dusty wall that were barely discernible by their vampire eyes.

By the time the car pulled into the alley, both Angel and Spike were miserably bored. Angel shouted out the window and a man in a suit with an amused look on his face peered into the broken window. He had the driver pull the car forward until it cast a shadow over the window and amused suit guy opened the back door. Spike was the first one out of the window. He pulled Buffy up after him and Angel followed.

On the ride back to Wolfram & Hart, Buffy chatted excitedly about a red river and a lioness who bathes in it. Spike and Angel ignored her except to offer a "that's great, Buffy" or "wonderful, pet" whenever she looked at either of them expectantly. Angel wondered how long they'd been gone. His car hadn't been stolen so it couldn't have been long and neither the driver nor the lawyer in the front asked any questions.

The left the car in the W&H garage. Angel was exhausted, mentally and physically. He wanted nothing more than to wrestle Spike for the first shower and collapse into his own bed. Harmony, of course, wasn't having it.

"Boss!" she shouted from her desk as the trio walked into the lobby. "Oh my gosh, where were you? I've been trying to call you and then I went upstairs and you still weren't back. I mean you never even told me you were leaving."

"Harmony-" Angel began.

"Don't you think it's a little important to tell your assistant when you're leaving? I mean you don't have to tell me _where _you're going. That's your business, but I need to know how to get a hold of you if there's a crisis or something," she rambled.

Spike left Angel and Harmony to go at it and took Buffy up stairs. She hadn't lost her cheery mood since they returned and wondered what was going on with her, but Spike was very tired and uncomfortably dirty so he moved all the more faster at the thought of hot water. He dropped his duster on the back of the sofa. Buffy scampered off to find Miss Anne. He watched her for a moment wondering if he should wait for Angel so she wouldn't be alone. He shrugged thinking she couldn't go far with Angel standing in the lobby and she was probably busy telling Miss Anne about her grand adventure anyway.

Spike pulled the dirt, sweat, and blood caked clothes off and stepped into the hot stream. It stung where it ran over several cuts that were likely the result of shrapnel in the explosion back in China. He sighed and for the first time in a month he completely relaxed.

* * *

"Harmony!" Angel shouted. "Listen to me," he said threateningly.

"I am listening, boss. That's what I was just saying. I'm listening, but you're not saying anything."

His eyes narrowed. "Harmony. I am going upstairs now to get some rest. You are going to bother me. In a couple of hours I will be back in office expecting a full report and exactly two mugs of blood. Understand?"

"Yeah, boss. I totally understand."

Angel looked around and noticed Spike and Buffy were gone already. "_Great._"

"It's just that you got a call about an hour ago from Italy."

Angel was half way to the elevator when he stopped and turned to face her. "Italy?"

Harmony smiled glad to have his attention. "Yep. It was that Andrew guy. It sounded pretty important, but I couldn't understand much of what he was saying with all the nerd speak."

"Get him on the phone. I'll be in my office." He left and Harmony scampered to call Andrew.

Several minutes later, the phone rang. "Andrew Wells on line one," Harmony said as though he hadn't been expecting it.

"Thanks, Harmony." He switched lines. "Andrew."

"Angel! Thank Yoda you finally called me back," the younger voice replied.

"What's wrong?"

"It's the slayers. Last night right after sunset, there was this bright flash of light and then everything went all Uncanny X-men!"

"What do you mean?"

"I _mean_ the slayers lost their mojo. All of them. All at once. The girls that were out on assignments got creamed. Faith is okay though. The reason I called of course is that Buffy is gone like Gallifrey. No one has any idea where she is!"

Angel couldn't decide what to tell him. Did he tell him she was a dead? A vampire? Insane? Play dumb?

"Uh. Earth to Angel. This is a bit of a crisis and we really need Buffy's help with all the baddies. We've got literally hundreds of girls just sitting here like tribbles on a log and they're all targets"

"I understand. I'll let you know if I hear anything." He hung up. That's when Spike came running into the room. His hair was wet and messy and he wore nothing but a pair of jeans.

"She's gone. I left her alone for ten minutes and she's gone," he said hurriedly.

"Dammit, Spike!" Angel jumped to his feet.

"Look. The sun's up. She couldn't have gotten far."

"This building has over 30 floors."

"Well we'd better get movin' then."

They left the office in search of Buffy. Spike received many stares and amuses looks from the lawyers they passed. Angel stopped at Harmony's desk.

"How'd it go with-" she began.

"Not now. Have you seen Buffy?" Angel interrupted.

"Buffy? No, not since you guys came in but I was really busy with all this-"

"Dammit. Let me know if you see anything or get any strange reports."

"Can do, boss," she called as they hurried away.

They stepped into elevator. "I'll take the second floor. You get the third. We'll meet up on the fourth."

"Maybe I wanted the second floor," Spike said

"Not the time, Spike. Make sure you ask around. See if anyone's seen her," Angel said as he entered the second floor.

The doors closed and elevator moved up. A pair of lawyers gave Spike a funny look as he pushed past them. He hurried down the hall and around the corner. Most of the doors hung open and he could see she wasn't inside. He stopped a man carrying a briefcase and asked "Have you seen a girl about yay high, white dress, could use a shower?" but the man looked at him like he'd grown a second head. Spike pushed him aside and moved on. He had no luck finding her and no one he asked seemed to have seen her. He went back to the elevator to meet Angel who he found waiting on the fourth floor.

"You took long. I already searched this one too," Angel informed him.

"No good."

"I didn't have any luck either. Come on let's hit the next floors." He started to get back into the elevator but Spike stopped him.

"Wait. What if we rode the lift up to each floor but we didn't get out. When the doors open we could just feel for her and if she's not there move on."

"If anyone asks, that was my idea," Angel said.

"Yeah right."

They got in the elevator and pushed every button the panel. The man they hadn't noticed behind them glared but didn't say anything. They tried their new process on the next three floors. On the 8th floor Spike could hear something strange.

_Spikey. Don't worry Spikey. The Lioness is only playing._

_Buffy?_

There was a giggle. _I only wanted to play._

_Never been a fan of hide-and-seek, pet. Come out now._

_Come and find me._

He could feel the connection break inside his head, but he had a better idea of where she was. "She's on the tenth floor. In one of the conference rooms."

"How do you know?"

"Just trust me."

Angel did against his better judgement. She was right where Spike said she'd be. They both could feel her. They through open the conference room doors. Neither of them had seen so much blood in one place since the time Angelus had found himself a nice convent. There were four dead lawyers on the floor and one in Buffy's arms.

She smiled at them. "Let's play lions."

"Oh, Buffy," Spike sighed.


	12. Don't Mention It

"Buffy. What did you do?" Angel asked a bit shocked.

"I got hungry," she said innocently.

Just then, the worst thing that either Spike or Angel could think of happened. Gunn came running into the room. "Whoa. What happened here?"

He was followed by Wesley. They both surveyed the damage. Wesley looked accusingly at Angel. "I knew some thing like this was bound to happen. I had hopped you'd be able to kept her under control, but this is..."

"Chaos," Gunn finished for him.

"precisely," Wesley nodded.

"We heard reports that the two of you were running all over the building like a bunch of wackos. Guess now we know why," Gunn said.

"Wesley. Gunn. My office," Angel commanded.

"We want answers, Angel," Wesley insisted.

"And you'll get them alright? In my office. I'll be there in a minute. I just need to clean up this mess first."

"This is Wolfram and Hart. We have people for that," Wesley said grimly.

Spike took Buffy back to Angel's suite. Wesley and Gunn reluctantly went back down stairs to wait for Angel who made the call for the mess to cleaned up and the bodies taken care of. He would have much prefered to have taken care of it himself but since both Gunn and Wes had already seen the mess and it wasn't like Buffy had bothered to kill the security cameras, so he decided he might as well take advantage of Wolfram and Hart's Sanitation and Disposal division. Which Angel came to find had nothing at all do with garbage and everything to do with the removal of "terminated" employees.

Angel left the guys from Sanatation and Disposal to take care of Buffy's mess. He found Gunn and Wesley waiting restlessly in his office. Neither of them had felt calm enough to sit down. Gunn stood with his arms crossed while Wesley paced.

Before either of them could speak Angel said, "I know how it looks. I'm working on how to deal with her. I guess now that the cat's out of the bag I may as well get some security to keep her locked down."

Both men looked a bit shocked. "Well..." began Wesley. "We're glad you're acting so rationally."

"Great. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well we were a bit worried you might be going dark side like you did when Darla turned up," Gunn explained.

"What? No! I'm just trying to take care of Buffy. It's my fault this happened to her and I owe it to her keep her safe." He sat on the end of his desk and the others followed suit. Gunn sat on the end of one chair and Wesley sat comfortably in the other.

"So why not reensoul her like Wes suggested before?" Gunn asked.

Angel sighed. "Her mind... she's nearly as bad as Drusilla."

Wesley nodded understanding. "And your afraid giving her a soul would only make it worse."

"Exactly. It was hard enough for me to handle my soul with my mind in tact. There were several times when I thought I'd completely lost it. It took me years to learn to deal with it and only then it was because I knew I needed to in order to help Buffy."

"Is there anything else we could try? Something just to keep her from killing," Gunn suggested.

Angel shook his head. "There's nothing that I know of," Wesley said. "I can look through a few books and see if I find anything useful."

"Thanks, Wes," Angel said.

"Yeah and if I can help at all just say the word. Especially of she runs off again," Gunn offered.

"Thanks. Really guys. I appreciate it." Gunn gave him a small nod and the pair left together.

* * *

Spike lead Buffy by the arm up to the suite. He wanted to ask her just what she was thinking doing something like that but he thought the answer was probably something like "I was hungry" and it just wasn't worth the frustration. So he stood in the living room and scowled at her while she skipped away to fetch Miss Anne.

He plopped down on the couch and tried to convince himself that Gunn and Wes weren't giving Angel a rousing "kill the evil thing" speech. Spike was ready to rip Angel's head from his shoulders if he even looked like he might be considering it. Spike would protect Buffy with his last breath if he needed to breathe. He liked Gunn, but he knew after seeing the mess she'd made upstairs that there was no way he wasn't all for getting rid of her before she could make real trouble. He couldn't imagine Angel would do much defending her. He didn't even like her. Not any more.

Buffy came back into the room, holding her doll. "Are you angry?" she asked.

"No, pet. I wish I was angry," he said. The truth was, Spike was scared. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to protect her if Angel should decide to toss her out of a window. "That was a bad thing you did. You should have told me you were hungry. You could have snacked on animal blood until later. Honestly, Buffy!" He felt himself finally getting angry for her poor behavior. "I shouldn't have to baby sit you every hour of the day!"

He climbed to his feet and paced. Buffy watched him walk back and forth before finally stopping in front or her. "If I had pulled a stunt like that Angelus would have beat me til I bled and then some."

Buffy looked at him wearily before she decided that he wasn't going to do that to her and she sat down. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

He looked at her surprised. "Bloody right to be." He sat down next to her and she cuddled into his side.

"Hungry," she whined looking toward the elevator.

"No you don't. You're stayin' right here 'til the sun sets. How can possibly hungry so soon any way?"

Buffy shrugged and held her stomach. "Many lambs before the lions and they keep poor kitty in a cage."

"That's the way it's gotta be, pet," Spike responded. His voice conveyed an air of regret as though he wished it didn't have to be.

Buffy slipped away from him and set Miss Anne on the end of Angel's bed. She noticed a figure resting on a table for decoration. The small statue was of a tall and muscular man clothed only in a loincloth. His face held an expression of triumph. The little man stood on a base of solid rounded marble. Without thinking she grasped the figure by its legs and went back to the other room where Spike stared thoughtfully out of the window.

When she reached him, she raised the statue quickly so he wouldn't have time to react and brought it down hard on the right side of his head. He fell unconscious onto his side.

"Jail break," Buffy said triumphantly. She dropped the figure and stepped into the elevator.

* * *

Angel sat at his desk thinking. He could set two guards at the floor entrance to his elevator and she wouldn't be able to get past. He'd have to get a pair of vampires to do it so they wouldn't get tired or need to leave their post to relieve themselves. He went up to security. They said they would have a schedule prepared and the guards would be posted first thing the next morning.

Back at his desk, Harmony had organized his paper work into stack according to importance. He looked down at the pages with annoyance. He picked up the first stack and sifted through it. He found information about upcoming meetings, contracts that needed to be renewed, and a list of calls he needed tp return. He sighed and got to it hoping Spike was doing fine with Buffy.

He set the stack of papers back in its place and decided he ought to call Andrew back. He picked up the phone and waited for Harmony to pick up on her end. She put him through with a cheery "no problem, boss". Her pep always seemed so out of place to him.

Andrew picked up on the second ring. "Angel! I was staring to worry you wouldn't call back. I was debating calling you, but you sounded busy and I didn't-"

Angel cut off his rambling. "Sorry I had to cut you off earlier. What happened? Don't leave anything out. And in English if at all possible."

Andrew took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. "It was 4 am," he began dramatically. "I was heading to bed after a hot date with a lovely signora-"

"Andrew."

"Right. There was a blinding flash of brilliant white light in the sky. It was over so quickly that I thought I might have imagined it, but my keen senses told me that it was not so. Precisely 60 seconds later I received a distressed call from a young slayer named Sierra. She said her squad of four had been sparring when they found both their strength and endurance failing them. I told them to get some rest and that must have over worked themselves and not to worry, but then Mellie called. Her voice was shaking as to me how the two slayers she had been patroling with were slaughtered by a single pair or newborn vampires as though they had never trained a day in their lives. I received similar calls from Adelle, Caroline, and Claire. Each more panicked than the last."

Angel's face was overcome with worry. "All of the slayers lost their power."

"Bingo. We've gotten reports of over 30 casualties. The majority of the girls that remain had been off duty that night of were training with Mr. Giles."

"Are there none left?"

"Well we had some contacts spread out over the globe. They were told to contact us should they see any signs of unidentified slayers in their area. We got a call from a Jeremy Sharpe. He says his daughter is showing signs of slayer power and that it didn't happen until after dinner time yesterday which by east coast time is about when I saw that weirdo light."

"So all of the slayers go back to being potential and a new "chosen one" gets picked."

"That's what it looks like, but... she's gonna need a watcher. I offered, but Mr. Giles says I don't have enough experience," He sounded bitter. "With me being the top of the new Watchers that means the only ones worthy of the job are Mr. Giles and Mr. Wyndam-Pryce. Giles is pretty busy with the mess here and he says after Buffy he doesn't think he could ever treat a new slayer fairly. So that leaves it Mr. Wydam-Pryce to Yoda the noobie slayer."

They were both quiet for a moment. "I'll talk to Wesley. I'm sure if he'll take it well. He feels guilty about the mistakes he made with Faith. I'm not sure..."

"I understand. If he refuses, I suppose that leaves it to me. But while we're on the subject, where _is _Buffy? No one has any idea where she is. Not Dawn. Not Willow. Not Giles. She's not one to be on her own so after moving down the list that leaves you or Spike. One has seen her and don't try to tell me otherwise."

Angel dragged in a breath. If he told Andrew the truth he would tell Giles and that would only add to the problems. He, Dawn, Willow, and the others would all get involved and it was difficult enough without a mob of concerned family members swarming all over him. He decided it was best to tell him as little as possible so he wouldn't have to out right lie.

"She's here with me. She's been staying here," he took a moment forgetting how much time has passed since Italy. "about a week now."

"I knew it. Well it's about time she came home. We really need her here."

"I'll let her know she's needed."

"And put her on your fastest jet while you're at it."

Angel winced. He felt guilty about lying to him. He clearly needed help, but Buffy couldn't possibly come to their rescue. They would have to make due on their own. The girls might not have super powers any more, but they had been trained and they could still do good just in larger numbers.

"Let me know if I can help at all. I don't trust Wolfram & Hart but if you need anything..."

Andrew thought he'd trust Bad Horse a.k.a. The Thoroughbred of Sin before he trusted Wolfram & Hart, but he appreciated the gesture. "Thanks, Angel."

"If anything else comes up you'll let me know?"

"Sure thing."

* * *

Spike groaned as he regained conciousness. He rubbed the side of his head. "Buffy?" he called, but he knew she was gone again. He climbed to his feet and went after her. The elevator was obnoxiously slow. He had to get Buffy back before she caused any more trouble or at the very least, before Angel found out she'd slipped past him yet again.

He made his way out Angel's office and into the lobby where he looked around. Buffy had already made it across the lobby so Spike hurried over to Harmony's desk.

"Oh, hey, Spike," she said cheerily. "What's going on with your hair?"

"Have you seen Buffy?"he asked hurriedly.

"Uh, no. Why would I? Did she sneak off again? I heard about the-"

"Yeah, thanks," he said as he rushed off.

She rolled her eyes. "You're welcome," she replied to the empty air annoyed.

As Spike hurried down the nearest hall, he thought he caught Buffy's scent underneath the scent of expensive fabrics, a multitude of perfumes, and various demons, but he couldn't be sure. Around the first coner and past the Mythological Studies Department, he caught the scent of cold human blood. Given Angel's strict policies against human blood drinking, maiming, and sacrifice Spike knew it had to be Buffy.

He followed the scent into an office marked "Under Executive of Mythology:Hamish Addams". He threw the door open and stormed inside where he found something rather unexpected Buffy sat on classy red fabric sofa opposite two matching chairs. On her lap rested a tea cup that looked particularly fragile due to the way she held with her hand wrapped tightly around it as though she were nervous not to drop it. In one of the chairs opposite her sat a short, dark-haired man with particularly snooty air about him. When Spike stormed in, the pair had looked at him as though he had been expected.

"Ah, you must be Spike," said the snooty british man whose name Spike assumed to be Hamish Addams.

Buffy smiled proudly. "Like a sniffer dog. I told you so."

"You did indeed."

Spike decided the he didn't like the man who reminded him all too much of an uncle he disliked during his childhood. "I just came for the girl."

"I'm sure," Hamish sneered. "But incase it is unclear to you, Ms. Buffy and myself are having conversation. I would appreciate it if you would sit down and wait a moment." He made as if to continue his interrupted conversation.

"Yeah?" Spike said furious at having been spoken down to. "Well I would appreciate it if you would piss off. You no good poncy arsed-"

"Such language," the man tisked. He looked at Buffy. "You ought to explain the concept of respect to that _boy_."

Spike growled and grabbed the man by the front of his nicely tailored suit jacket. "Listen you prat! I'm not going to be spoken to like a child by some posh wanker who finds it amusing-" Spike sniffed. In Hamish had set his half empty glass on the table the contents of which were none other than human blood. He dropped the man back in his seat.

"Come on, Buffy. We're going."

"But I-"

He glared at her not willing to put up with anything short of compliance at that moment. She set her glass down and left without another word. Spike followed her out with a pleased expression on his face. Buffy eyed him curiously, but said nothing as he led her back to the lobby. It wasn't the way he would normally do things, but Buffy was watching. Tearing that bastards head off with his bare hands certainly wouldn't have reenforced the "killing is bad" rule. So, that left him to take care of it the Wolfram & Hart way. Or at least the new Wolfram & Hart way.

"Harmony. I need a quick favor," he said back at her desk.

She looked at him suspiciously and then at Buffy. "What?"

"I need you to watch Buffy. Just for a few minutes 'til me and Angel get back."

"I have to watch the desk and take Angel's calls."

"Angel's got voice mail doesn't he? This will only take a minute." He stared her down with puppy dog eyes.

She sighed. "Fine, but if Angel isn't happy about it then it's on you."

Buffy eyed Harmony curiously and walked around the desk to next to her. She looked pet the mane on one of Harmony's unicorns. "Don't let her run off." He hurried to Angel's office.

Angel was just setting the phone down when Spike hurried into his office. "Why aren't you watching Buffy?" he asked annoyed.

"I got tired of playing babysitter. I'm havin' Harmony watch her for a minute." He held up a hand before Angel could protest. "I've got a bit of news. I was wanderin' around the hall with all those mythology blokes and it looks like you've got an under executive breakin' your 'no human blood' rule."

Angel looked at him curiously. "You were just wandering around and happened across this guy?"

"That's what I said i'nt it? Hamish something or other."

"I'll call someone to look into it," Angel said a bit suspiciously.

"You do that."

"Why do you care anyway?"

"Well he's a trouble maker. We can't have under executives setting a bad example."

"No... I guess not." Angel caught the pleased expression Spike was trying to hide. "What did he do to you?"

"What? Nothing."

Not so easily fooled Angel said,"Oh really?"

"Really," Spike replied with a nod.

Angel sighed. "Okay." He wasn't convinced, but he made the call to have Hamish Addams's blood tested. They went down to his office in case the sample tested positive as Spike was certain it would.

When the screen on the hand held blood test flashed positive Spike smirked at the nervous vampire that stood in front of him. Angel chose to ignore Spike in favor of carrying out his own policy. He took the ax offered to him by the man holding the blood test and proceeded to lop off the head of the snooty British vampire.

"anticlimactic," Spike said. "But satisfying none the less." He swaggered out of the room and back the way he came. Angel caught up to him and slapped a stack of papers into his arms. "What the hell is this?"

"The paper work," Angel said as he smirked and went back to his office. Spike glared but didn't argue.

He went back to the front desk where he found Buffy standing beside Harmony's chair braiding her hair. "Hey, Spike. I tried to get her to let me braid hers, but she had a big fuss."

Spike looked at Buffy who was wholly focused on her task. "She does that. Ready to go, pet?"

Buffy finished the last few twists and nodded. She skipped around the desk and went off to Angel's elevator with Spike behind her. Back safely in Angel's suite, Spike was determined to get Buffy clean and tucked into bed.

She pouted at the very suggestion, but finally decided that maybe she did need a bath after all. Yanking her dress over head she hurried off to the bathroom. Spike rolled his eyes as she abandoned her dress on the floor. He called Angel who had the guy that does Angel's laundry come to collect it to be washed. He said it was top priority that the dress be cleaned and returned by morning. It took some coaxing, but Spike managed to get Buffy into one of Angel's t-shirts to sleep.

"Where's my dress," she pouted nearly drowned in black fabric. She lay in Angel's bad with Spike sitting next to her.

"It's getting washed. You'll have it back in the morning," he assured her.

"Okay." She snuggled down into Spike's side. He smiled and wrapped an arm around her. "Thank you, Spike."

"What for?" he asked down at her.

"You didn't tell Angel. About the tea party."

"Oh. Well that was... don't mention it love." He was surprised at her understanding. With the way she runs off so carelessly it's hard to remember that she even understands the situation.

She fell asleep curled up under his arm. For a while he watched her breathing. She didn't need to of course, but he remembered it took him a while to break the unnecessary habit as well. It was a comforting site anyway. He was glad to find a visible reminder that his Buffy wasn't broken entirely. He fell asleep with a small smile on his face


End file.
